Sun, fun and nothing to do?
by devotedtodreams
Summary: Following Katsuya's spontaneous idea, a party of twelve goes on vacation to Africa. But how much relaxation can there be, particularly with the "Psycho Duo" around? SJ, BR, MM, YYY, MA ::DISCONTINUED::
1. Chapter 1

So... I've finally gotten off my lazy ass enough to make an attempt at a multi-chapter story after getting over the "shock" that WAF is over...

I find it hard to guess whether this will be up to scratch, so I'll let you decide! It took me forever to decide to post it, but I figured that since the weather here is so crappy at the moment, I might as well write something, er, "sunny" to lift the mood a bit. Something like that.

Some things that will happen later on are actually based on my family's own experience during our vacation (we've traveled southwards to Africa three times so far)... it's a rather feeble attempt at a bit of humor, just to warn you XD (I don't think that I'm so good at writing really funny things, but oh well...)

I shall now list the shippings in this story, just so nobody will be caught off-guard:

Puppyshipping (SetoxJou)  
Tendershipping (BakuraxRyou)  
Bronzeshipping (MarikxMalik)  
Puzzleshipping (YamixYugi)  
Danceshipping (MaixAnzu)

BTW: I've included Noa in the story too. Don't ask me how they "brought him back", I suck at thinking up reasonable (and maybe logical) explanations for that. It just... somehow came to be, okay...?

Yes, I'm using Japanese names for this one (except Yami, I guess, but I just can't get used to anything else, sorry folks). I'll let off the honorifics, though, 'cause I have an awful tendency to royally screw those things up. There, now that has been said as well.

Disclaimer (applies to all chapters): I don't own anything related to Yu-Gi-Oh! - Kazuki Takahashi does. The "Two Fishes" actually did exist, but it doesn't anymore (as far as I know), so of course I don't own that either. All I own are the vacation memories.

Now all that's left to say is: enjoy! (I hope...)

* * *

It was the middle of September when the gang was having an unusually quiet lunch break at college. Well, it wasn't the entire clique like it had been just three years ago; after high school, ways had parted, and it was only on special occasions that they all got together again.

Currently, it was only Katsuya, Anzu and Ryou who sat at a table in the cafeteria. The latter two were almost taken aback by the quietness at their table and eyed their blond friend, who was quite absorbed in a magazine of some sort.

"Jou, what's wrong? You're so quiet, and you haven't even touched your sandwich yet!" Anzu remarked with a twinge of worry. When Katsuya wasn't eating his food as if he wouldn't live to see the next day, something usually was very wrong.

"S'okay… I'm fine…" came a rather absent mutter as the other boy traced a line with his finger as his eyes widened a bit.

"What are you looking at?" Ryou wondered and leaned over a bit.

Instead of answering, Katsuya whooped, startling his friends for a moment. Then he pushed the magazine towards them. "Check it out! It's perfect!"

Puzzled, the other two looked at the double page in front of them. It turned out that it was a travel magazine, and the page they were looking at was advertising for a charter voyage, a charter voyage to –

"Kenya?" Ryou asked, looking up again.

Katsuya beamed and looked as if Christmas had come early. "Yeah! Wouldn't it be great? Sunshine, lots of warmth, the ocean…"

"Sort of like: catch some rays before the winter's here?" Anzu grinned.

"You said it! Would you like to come along? You know, maybe we could get together with the others again…"

"Seriously?! Sure, I'd love to!" the brunette cheered.

"Cool! And you, Ryou?"

"Actually, I would, but I'm rather worried about Bakura… you know how possessive he is…" the white-haired Briton said elusively.

"Then just tell him he can come along too!"

Ryou brightened. "Ah, okay! I'll ask him!"

"Sweet! Now all we need to do is call up the others and ask if they have some time to spare – two weeks in about a month's time."

The others agreed enthusiastically, and from then on, the day went by astoundingly quickly.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Wow, Jou, you look very cheerful… What's up?" Mokuba asked when the other came home in the late afternoon.

"I've just decided something! We're going on a trip to Africa!" was the answer when Katsuya gracelessly let himself fall onto the couch next to the younger Kaiba, who showed immediate approval of that idea.

"Wow, really?! Where to in Africa?"

"Kenya. Beach vacation, how does that sound?"

"Neat! When are we going?"

"The middle of October, once I've arranged everything."

Mokuba squealed with delight, but suddenly faltered, and a suspicious look dawned on his face. "How did you get Nii-sama to agree to this?"

Katsuya laughed nervously. "I didn't. I made that decision entirely on my own. Hey, if he doesn't want to come, he can stay here…"

"You're kidding yourself; do you really think he'd let you go someplace like that on your own?" another voice asked, and a teal-haired teen entered the living room.

"Hi Noa. Well, this time I'll make him decide: either he lets me go or he comes with us. I can't just stay here forever, otherwise I'll go nuts."

"Good luck. But I warn you: he isn't fond of beach vacation. He won't like it."

"As I said before: it's all up to him. I'm not letting him keep me this time," Katsuya declared, "Did he say if he's coming home tonight?"

"He said that it would be sometime later, if at all," Mokuba answered.

"It figures." He sounded a bit disappointed, the two Kaiba brothers thought. "Oh well… I'll start making dinner now…"

"Give us a call when we should come," Noa reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Go on and play your video games!" Katsuya told them with a shooing gesture and a grin.

Already arguing about whether they should play a jump-and-run or a racing game, Mokuba and Noa ran upstairs while Katsuya headed for the kitchen to start with the preparations.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Later that evening, when the two Kaiba brothers had gone back to their gaming session, Katsuya was doing part of his homework on the couch in the living room when someone suddenly patted him on the head as if he were a dog.

"Good evening, puppy."

Katsuya looked up past the lean of the couch. "Hello to you too. I guess you'll never stop calling me that…"

"Why should I? I know you secretly like it; you can't fool me," Seto Kaiba answered with a smirk.

"Whatever. How was your day?"

"Looking up," the brunet replied with a pointed look as he rested his other lower arm on the top of the couch and started to fiddle with the blond hair with the other hand, "And you?"

"Pretty good, actually. I've decided that I'm gonna go on vacation with the gang."

"Did you, now? And where will you be going to?" Seto asked, narrowing his eyes a bit in suspicion.

"I saw this really good special offer in a travel catalogue. Picture this: sunshine and warmth at the beach in Kenya!" Katsuya answered enthusiastically, making hand gestures to emphasize his point.

"That's quite far away, Katsuya…" Seto began. The upcoming scowl was all it took to tell that Noa had indeed been right about his brother; Seto's protests against such trips usually began with that phrase.

"C'mon, let me go! You wanna have me rot away here?!" Katsuya interrupted.

"You're exaggerating; I have let you travel before…"

"With a bunch of those goons in suits watching every step I take, yeah! And besides: I wanna go see what it's like **outside** of Japan!" the blond complained.

"Those so-called 'goons' are only there for your protection. Or have you already forgotten those threatening letters you received shortly before high school was over? They may have just been from those blasted fangirls, but still… I just resolve to such measures on behalf of the saying 'better safe than sorry'," Seto retorted sternly.

"Listen, Seto: I really, really wanna go. You have two options: either you just let me go for once – and if you would, then preferably **without** an army of bodyguards – or you come along with us."

"Exactly who does that 'us' include?" Seto asked suspiciously.

"So far, Mokuba, Noa too, probably, Anzu, Ryou and maybe Bakura. They're gonna ask the others, so that's all I know for the moment."

"…I don't like beach vacation," Seto muttered after a brief pause.

Katsuya closed his book and sat up with a laugh. "Oh, come on, you don't even know what beach vacation really is like! According to Mokuba, all you do is mope around on those deckchairs! And a bit of a tan would do you good, if you ask me!" he added and attempted to playfully pinch the CEO.

In a flash, however, Seto caught his wrist. "Oh, no you don't! Anyhow, if my hearing didn't deceive me, you said something about a special offer, did you not?"

"Yep! It's a charter voyage, so it's a spontaneous decision!" Katsuya beamed. His wrist was released, and he shook it a bit.

"Charter voyage?! It's probably some very cheap offer, I may presume…" Seto sighed theatrically, "Why do you settle for something like that when you could book the same thing, but top-class instead?"

"Because I want to go with my friends, and not everyone can afford to travel top-class all the time. It doesn't always have to be the most expensive price category," Katsuya argued, "Why don't you come along? It would be lots of fun!"

"I told you time and time again that I'm not the type for beach vacation!" Seto snorted.

"Give it another shot! Pleeeeease?"

"Don't you have homework to finish?" Seto asked back as he straightened again, trying hard not to look into the surely-evident puppy-eyes.

"Aw… If you promise to think about it, I'll get back to it right away!"

"We'll see. On to a more interesting topic: is there any chance that I could expect you later tonight, puppy?" Even if Seto hadn't just said that, Katsuya would have impossibly failed to decipher the look in those blue eyes: it spoke volumes.

"On the seductive tour again, aren't you? It's a shame that I have school early tomorrow…!" Katsuya sighed wistfully.

"Early as in early-early? Well then, we could wake up together, and you wouldn't need to set your alarm clock," Seto grinned, knowing that this one point was almost impossible to resist. Without a doubt.

"Hey yeah, you're right!" The blond nodded happily, then realized what had happened. "Eh, there goes yet another time that **I** can't say no to **you**, but **you** can to **me**… how do you do that?!"

"I've just got what it takes. Now do as you said you would do – and try not to keep me waiting for too long," Seto told him in a sensual whisper.

"You can count on me," Katsuya assured him.

The taller man leaned forward and kissed him. "Good boy," he spoke before swiftly turning around and heading for the stairs. The whole thing was well-calculated, and he smirked when a marginally enraged shout reached his ears:

"I'm still not a dog you can train, Kaiba!"

Ah yes, it was predictable and absolutely typical: that protesting retort, the partially faked and partially true anger and the use of his surname. It amused him to no end, and a fair deal of that amusement still lingered on his face as he went to Mokuba and Noa, who of course didn't hesitate to pull one of their notorious persuasion acts on him…

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The next morning, Katsuya woke up when Seto shook his shoulder. Although he groaned, griped and fruitlessly attempted to rub the sleep out of his eyes a few times, he knew that waking up like this was still more pleasant than to the shrill sound of the hellish alarm clock (to this day, part of him swore that whoever had come up with that morning concept had been the devil in disguise). For occasions like this, they had some sort of ritual: Katsuya would take Seto to work in his own car instead of the limousine. And as usual, the brunet shook his head at the rather simple blue Toyota.

"Why you settle for this instead of any other better car you could afford now, I will probably never understand," he commented as they got in.

"Face it, Seto: I'm just a mediocre kind of guy in these kinds of things. It's what I'm used to. And I know that you weren't living in riches all your life, but you can't deny that it simply became a part of you."

"Oh, shut up and drive," Seto told him with a teasing nudge of his elbow. As the car began to move, a magazine was tossed into his lap. "What's this?"

"The offer I was talking about. Have a look – not a prejudiced look, though," Katsuya invited him as he pulled out onto the road and switched on the radio.

Seto scowled briefly at the lighted display – when **he** was driving, he never listened to music – then looked back at the magazine. It definitely looked like something that appealed to the blond: palm trees, perfect photos of the Indian Ocean and a wonderful-sounding description of the hotel. He looked a bit more closely at it and raised an eyebrow.

"Katsuya, this is a four-star-hotel."

"I've told you before that it doesn't always need to be the best and nothing else but the best. I think it looks just fine. Doesn't it just make you wanna be there as soon as you see it?"

"All advertisements are designed to have that effect."

"Don't be so dismissive for a change! Thinking about it positively for a second can make –" He stopped in mid-sentence and listened for several seconds before cheering: "Yay, one of my favorite songs! All right!" And just like that, he began to sing along.

In order to distract himself although the singing wasn't all that bad, Seto refocused on the advertisement. He thought about the other's all-too-apparent enthusiasm and how it had indeed been quite a while since their last reunion (by Katsuya's standards). Furthermore, a rather special date was approaching… While they stopped at the few red lights on their way to Kaiba Corporation, Katsuya stole a glance at his passenger and tried to hide a smile: he guessed that his idea might be on the brink of finding appreciation. As he wasn't aiming to push his potential luck, however, he didn't say anything until the first destination was reached.

"Right, then… have a nice day," he said.

"You too, Katsuya. See you tonight," Seto replied.

They gave each other a short kiss on the corner of the mouth, then Seto got out of the car and entered the imposing building of his company while Katsuya headed on to the college he attended. The lady at the reception desk gave Seto her usual smile, and he reacted in his usual way: namely, a brief glance, but no smile in return and once again giving the impression that he was otherwise stoic about the previous goodbye. Only a very skilled eye could have spotted the pleasure hidden in his face…

At school, Katsuya had barely walked through the doors when something bowled him right over. This knocked the air out of him, so even a startled yelp was impossible to manage. Now, as he lay there on the floor and other students stared at him, he was given the few moments he needed to recover and determine who had greeted him so vehemently: a mop of wild white hair with two particularly outstanding bangs and a pair of madly glittering brown eyes, so that could only mean –

"Blondie! What's up?"

"Bakura! What are you doing here?" Katsuya said with a gasp as he tried to push the tomb robber off of him.

"My dear Hikari had some interesting news for me yesterday, and I wanted to hear some more about it from you in person!" He sat up with an almost scary grin and offered his hand to the other. "And as for these people you call teachers: I'll just tell them that I'm pulling another visitor's day stunt."

The three other members of the once inseparable gang glanced at each other and sweatdropped. This would be at least the twelfth time that the former thief was doing that ever since they had started this college two years ago after a gap year, and everyone remembered the first time that "stunt" had happened: it had actually been visitor's day, and Bakura's patience had waned all too quickly – the results had been utter chaos, a stampede out of the classroom, a narrow escape of the teacher plus a missing blackboard whose presence was currently "gracing" other unfortunate souls in the Shadow Realm. It was only because Bakura had effectively threatened to send anyone who ratted on him to the Shadow Realm that he had gotten away with it just like that (as an aftermath, Ryou had been very, very angry for a whole week, and his yami claimed that to this day, it had been one of the longest weeks of his entire life).

"Um… great, Bakura, really… anyway, it's good to see you again! It's been ages!"

"For **you**, maybe, puppy dog. To me, it was practically yesterday."

"You had better pray that Kaiba never hears you say that, otherwise you'll be dead in a heartbeat," Anzu told him.

"Not if I would send him to the Shadow Realm first," Bakura retorted smugly.

"You're not sending **anybody** to the Shadow Realm! That cannot be your sole solution for everything!" Ryou huffed.

"Take it easy, Hikari; I'll behave," the albino said calmly, folding his hands behind his head. In Bakura-speak, that meant that under very lucky circumstances, only a chalk eraser might get sent to the aforementioned Shadow Realm. "Back to the original topic: tell me more about this vacation you're planning."

"You're interested in coming, then?" Katsuya asked as they headed for the auditorium.

"Are you kidding? Hell yeah! Sun, fun and nothing to do; what more could I want?" Bakura cackled.

"Oh man… alright, this is the deal…" When they took their seats in the auditorium, Katsuya showed Bakura the advertisement, and it merely took two minutes for the latter to get very excited; so excited, in fact, that when the lesson started, he kept on bugging Ryou to discuss the price issue in particular until the gentler white-haired one gave in and tried to do a balancing act of paying attention to the teacher and Bakura at the same time, basically. Therefore, the lesson seemed to last an eternity to him, and when it was over, he heaved a loud sigh of relief as they left the room.

"Well, count us in!" Bakura exclaimed brightly.

"Seriously? It's okay?" Katsuya looked downright delighted.

"Finances and everything," the thief confirmed.

"Speaking of finances: it's not dirty money, is it? As in: **stolen** money?" Anzu asked suspiciously.

"Not this time," Bakura told her. On anyone else, the smile would have looked convincing, but in this case, it didn't necessarily allay the brunette's suspicions.

"Say, Jou, what about Kaiba? Is he coming too?" Ryou suddenly asked.

"I'm working on it. He says that he's not the type for that kind of vacation and that he doesn't really fancy the idea of me going on such a trip – but hey, I can always hope! Remember, it's almost our one-year-anniversary…" He got a rather faraway look in his eyes as he gazed at the ceiling.

"Oh, of course! He could consider it a present for you!" Anzu squealed.

"Sure, but I'm not gonna push it… he hates persistence…"

"And what about hinted persuasion?"

Katsuya snickered. "**That's** something else. And for that, I have two great assistants."

"Hehe, that would make a tale to pass on for generations to come: Seto Kaiba at the beach, possibly even in swimming trunks!" Bakura closed his eyes and held up his hands as if he were having a vision. He smirked. "Ooh yes, that would be one hell of a photo op…"

"You'd be dead if he'd hear you say that too," Anzu reminded him.

"I think you all know that I'm not afraid of that penny-pincher; and besides, I don't think that you'd be so easy on him if he'd kill one of your friends, wouldn't you, Blondie?" Bakura asked casually, draping an arm around his blond friend.

"Seto can be generous if he wants to; it just depends on mood, place and time," Katsuya retorted defensively before continuing with a shake of his head: "And why is it that we're always on the topic of death with you?"

"Can I help it that it's my favorite subject…?"

"For your sake, I hope that he'll decide to come along, Jou. I know it would make you very happy," Ryou remarked.

"Yeah… I won't push him, though. Anyway, have you already heard something from the others?" Katsuya asked as they went to their next lesson (the people around them respectfully got out of the way when they spotted Bakura).

"Ah, it's good that you ask: Yugi and Yami can come, it's no problem. I haven't been able to contact Malik and Marik yet –"

"Leave that to me," Bakura advised him, "I'll probably meet up with Marik sometime next week." Then he rolled his eyes and muttered something about "not letting the vacation get disrupted by the baka Pharaoh".

"Oh, okay then. I also couldn't reach Honda and Otogi yet, so… hmm, who does that leave?" Ryou muttered, counting them on his fingers.

"Mai, of course," Anzu interjected with a pointed look.

"Oh yes, of course! Silly me!" Ryou quickly apologized.

"If she has time too, she can come as well," Katsuya offered.

"Definitely," Anzu replied firmly as they entered the classroom.

They talked leisurely about the matter a while longer until the teacher entered the room – her cheerful greeting quickly got cut off when she saw a familiar face sitting next to Ryou and glaring at anyone who laid eyes on his hikari for more than three seconds.

"Oh no… it's you…!" she gasped.

"Hello again," Bakura answered with a wicked smile and crossed his arms, "I hope I'm not…" He paused dramatically. "…**disturbing** you because I wish to visit Ryou once again…"

The teacher knew better than to say something against that. "Oh no, not at all!" she corrected herself hastily, though the cheerfulness on her face was as fake as could be. For the whole lesson, she acted like a cat on a hot tin roof and stumbled over her own words plus dropping the chalk when she saw how Bakura lazily fingered the spikes of his Sennen Ring at one point, signaling his boredom. Noticing that distress, Ryou had reproachfully poked his counterpart – but when his message was misinterpreted, he was forced to convince Bakura that no, this was **not** an appropriate time to make out …

The day was a cross between entertainment and anxiety for most of the other students and the teachers as the mere presence of Bakura made them sweat. The tomb robber himself behaved quite well for his standards, and by the end of the day, the only things that had ended up in the Shadow Realm were several chalks, a defect microphone whose occasional screech had hurt their ears one time too many as well as some girl's drawing of Ryou (Bakura had only resolved to send away the **drawing** instead of the **girl** because he didn't want to face another week of dead silence between him and his love).

"You and Marik are probably turning that place into a junkyard!" Anzu sighed when they left the school building for good in the later afternoon.

"Nonsense! And even so, there's no such thing as lack of space in that place." Bakura stretched luxuriously. "By Ra, how you guys manage this day after day is a mystery to me!"

"And how **you** manage to not do anything most of the time is a mystery to **me**," Ryou countered.

"Oh, come on, Hikari; tell me you don't want to argue now!" Bakura groaned.

Ryou grabbed his hand and smiled. "No, I don't. Now let's go home, I need some rest…"

"That sounds like a plan. Keep us up to date with that trip, Blondie, you hear?"

"Sure. As soon as I know for sure who's coming along, I'll book everything, so all you'll need to do is pack and then show up when it's time to go."

"If you get the chance, tell Kaiba that we'd really welcome him if he'd come along too," Anzu told Katsuya.

"I second that," Ryou added while Bakura merely shrugged.

"Sure, guys! See you tomorrow!" Katsuya told them brightly, and after one last goodbye, he drove home and took the liberty of turning the radio up really loud now that he was the only one in the car.

'_Come on, Seto… I hope you're thinking about it! It will be great anyway, but it wouldn't be the same without you…'_ he thought wistfully.

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Seto continued to be quite stubborn, however, and Katsuya found it increasingly harder to stop himself from becoming persistent in the pesky way. The acts of persuasion were frequently less veiled, though even with those, he took caution not to overuse them. Mokuba and Noa stepped it up a notch when there were only two more weeks to go until their planned departure.

"Come on, Nii-sama, I'm sure you'd enjoy it too! It's not as if you would be there alone with Yami and Yugi…!" Mokuba said exasperatedly. One shared look between him and Noa was all it took to know that they were thinking the same thing:

'_Thank heavens not, otherwise he'd only be dueling and not enjoying it properly…'_

The three Kaiba brothers were in the living room. Katsuya and his friends were having an evening lecture plus an hour of practices, so they were alone. Mokuba had seized the opportunity and was making another brave attempt to persuade his older brother to set his prejudices aside for a change. Noa was half listening in to the conversation and half occupied with his newest obsession that made both Mokuba and Katsuya gag at the mere thought of it because it was a quite mathematical thing: Kakuro.

Seto closed his eyes and counted to three before answering calmly: "Mokuba, we've been through this plenty of times before: I am not eager for beach vacation. In fact, I'm not that much into vacation anyway. I thought you knew that by now." He eyed the book in his lap. God, he wanted to finish it tonight and go check out a new one tomorrow, but at this rate… not likely to happen.

"Do you even remember what vacation's **like**?" Mokuba's voice brought him back to reality. "It's been ages since you took more than two days in a row off!" Mokuba secretly readied his puppy-eyes, which still were a useful method to coax Seto into agreeing with him.

"You should take a leaf out of Noa's book, Mokie," Seto replied with a meaningful glance, "I believe that **he** has understood this basic principle of mine. Don't you, Noa?" he asked the teal-haired teen.

"Well… sort of…"

"There, see?"

Mokuba began to pout, and just when Seto smirked triumphantly, Noa said slowly: "But Seto, isn't it your one-year-anniversary soon?"

That wiped the smirk off Seto's face, and Mokuba snickered; he knew that his other brother certainly hadn't given up his role. Noa simply tended to persuade more indirectly than the raven-haired Kaiba – he beat around the bush more often, so to speak. Mokuba gleefully showed him thumbs-up, and the only response was a short flicker of the glance in his direction.

"…I see where this is headed to," Seto muttered.

"I knew you would. It was merely some sort of reminder," Noa claimed with a shrug.

Seto sighed. He had been thinking along this line too, and now the others had caught on… it was yet another "weapon" they could use against him.

"Exactly! Think about how happy Jou would be!" Mokuba agreed with Noa's reason.

"If you think I don't see the signals he's giving me, you're greatly mistaken… How happy would he be if I were grumpy all the time, though?"

Mokuba plopped down next to him with his best smile on his face. "How can you be so sure that you'd be grumpy all the time? Who knows; maybe you'd enjoy yourself! I'm sure you would!"

"And if I don't?" Seto insisted.

"Then you can do what you always do on vacation – at least, the few times we had gone before. But try and give it a chance!"

For what seemed like a very long moment, Seto just stared at his brother (this made Mokuba's hopes of immediate approval rocket sky-high), then simply said: "We'll see. Now please let me finish this book, I really intend to accomplish that tonight."

"Argh!" Mokuba jumped up, looking frustrated. "It's always 'we'll see', 'we'll see'! But we **never** see! At least not in the way we should! Ra dammit!" Then he turned around and hurried upstairs.

"Don't let me hear you use language like that again! And it's **God**, not Ra!" Seto called after him. As he turned back to his book, he thought that perhaps the teen had been hanging around Yugi and his friends a little too much…

"I guess that was just too much for him," Noa remarked after hearing the door slam upstairs, "…Seto, you **are** giving it some thought, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. It's just that I'm not as fond of vacation as Katsuya is by nature," Seto answered, pinching the bridge of his nose, "But somehow, every time that issue comes up, people seem to forget that all over again."

"It's only because we think it really would do you good."

"…Give me a bit more time…"

"Okay, but if I heard him right, Jou wants to book the trip by the end of this week."

"Let me guess: there was this hidden yet noticeable sad look in his eyes?" Seto concluded.

"Um… yeah," Noa confirmed.

Seto just shook his head and continued to read his book while the other concentrated on the Kakuro again. A fair deal of calculating and erasing later, Noa excused himself, saying that it was time for bed soon and that he wanted to go see if Mokuba had calmed down a bit. Once he was gone, Seto glanced at the Kakuro that had been left behind, and a small smile crept onto his face when he saw that it had been completely solved.

By the time Katsuya came home, Seto really only had a few pages to go. Those would have to wait a moment, however, when the blond sat down beside him with a moan.

"That's a tale in itself, I'd say," the CEO commented.

"No kidding. God, I hate evening courses!" Katsuya yawned heartily, "Tell ya what: I'll just grab myself a bite to eat, then I'll be right off to bed."

"Before you do so: how's that trip of yours coming along, puppy?"

Immediately, Katsuya's eyebrows almost vanished in the bangs that hung into his face; ever since he had raised that issue, Seto had never been the one to initiate a discussion about it… "Well, I'm just about ready to book it. Honda and Otogi let me know that they can't make it – a shame, but oh well. And Shizuka can't come either. But otherwise, we'll be complete. …Except you," he added a bit more quietly.

"I'm thinking about it," Seto said.

"Sure. Just tell me by the end of this week, okay? Goodnight, then." He gave Seto a quick kiss before standing up again, then going to the kitchen and from there on upstairs.

The brunet who stayed behind stared emptily at his book for a moment. He felt a strong desire to join Katsuya, but on the other hand, he had vowed to finish the book tonight… Finally, figuring that his better half wouldn't fall asleep **that** fast, he decided to finish it, and once that was done, he decided to call it a day a bit earlier than usual. But upon going upstairs as well, he discovered that Katsuya indeed was already asleep. Marveling somewhat at that fact, Seto gingerly sat down on the bed the other kept when they didn't sleep together. Briefly, he ran his fingers through the blond hair. Katsuya shifted a bit and clutched the pillow tighter. Seto put his hand over the one which had tensed up, and it was in these situations that sight and touch were all he needed. Words either just seemed to be unnecessary or they failed him from the get-go. Moving slowly, he gave the hand one single, but very gentle caress. Once again, Katsuya shifted and mumbled something that wasn't meant to be understood; then he relaxed, loosening his grip on the defenseless pillow. Deciding not to disturb his puppy's sleep anymore, Seto stood up and left the room while allowing his mind to focus on one subject only.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

When the end of the week had come and Seto still hadn't explicitly told him whether he would come along or not, Katsuya was less than an inch away from giving up his hopes. Shortly after noon on Saturday (he was hanging around at home with Mokuba and Noa while Seto had gone to work nonetheless), he called the travel agency. It just had to be done. And it had to be assumed that Seto wasn't willing to come along, or else he would have said so.

_"Nippon travel agency, may we help you?"_ (1)

"Yes, please. I'm interested in your special offer, the charter voyage to Kenya."

_"Yes, sir. Are you planning to travel alone or with others?"_

"With my friends. We would be a party of…" He silently counted them up. "…eleven."

_"Very well. May I have your name, sir?"_

"Kaiba. Kaiba Katsuya."

There was a brief silence at the other end, then the woman said: _"Sir… I've just discovered that a very similar reservation was made yesterday, but in the name of Kaiba Seto."_

Katsuya was dumbfounded, to say the least. "…Really?! What exactly did he book?"

_"The same thing, except that it would be a party of twelve,"_ the woman answered.

For a moment, Katsuya was rendered speechless, but then he fully grasped the meaning of what he had just been told, and he whooped happily. "Thank you, thank you very much! Forget what I said, it's been solved! Bye!"

_"…Good day to you too, sir."_ The woman sounded mildly startled, but Katsuya was already too preoccupied to give it more thought. In a flash, he had dialed the number of Seto's office.

_"Hello?"_ a female voice answered him.

"Hi Mizuki! It's me, Jou! Can I speak to Seto?"

_"Actually, he's busy and told me to hold his calls –"_

"Please! I really, really, really want to talk to him!" Katsuya begged.

Mizuki sighed. _"Oh, I can try, but I can't guarantee for anything…"_

"That's okay, but please give it a try!"

_"Okay. One moment, please."_

The blond bit his lip and hoped beyond hope. Suddenly, a different voice greeted him:

_"Katsuya, is something the matter?"_

"Hell yeah! I just called the travel agency, and they told me that the trip is already booked! For twelve people! Does this really mean that you're coming too?"

_"Yes, puppy. Consider it a present for our one-year-anniversary."_

"It's for real! Oh, Seto, I love you so much! You're the best!" Katsuya cried.

_"If you're trying to bust my ear, you're doing a pretty good job…"_

"Yeah, I know you love me too. Why didn't you just **tell** me that you'd come along?"

_"I wanted to make at least a **bit** of a surprise out of it."_

"Didn't you see how I was this close to losing all hope?"

_"How close are we talking about here?"_

"You're weird when you play dumb, did you know that?"

_"You don't say. Listen, Katsuya, I appreciate that you let me know that you're happy, but I've got quite a few things that need to get done here…"_ As he said this, he eyed the stack of documents on his desk that he needed to look through and sign where he considered it worthy.

"It's okay! I just **had** to call you; I couldn't have waited until you get home!"

_"I guess that really made your day…"_

"You bet! Well, see you tonight! Love ya!" Katsuya chirped.

_"I love you too,"_ Seto smiled, then they hung up.

While the CEO allowed himself to daydream about the happiness on his partner's face for little more than ten seconds before getting back to work, Katsuya went straight to the gaming room, where Mokuba and Noa were having another one of their "tournaments" which they rarely interrupted. When their momentary fight was over, however, they gladly took a moment to cheer when they heard the news that the entire family would be going.

* * *

So... what do you think? I'd love to hear your opinion if you could spare the time...

:-)

(1) As far as my research went, it actually exists - of course, I don't own, duh...


	2. Chapter 2

Wow, thank you all so much for your prompt feedback! _(is very very happy)_

Now on to the second installment of this story: the journey! Usually that's always the most boring part of vacation, but if I could have experienced something like this... I'd be anticipating that part much more! ;)

I'm feeling rather... I dunno, sluggish at the moment, and I strongly guess that the lack of coffee is finally catching up to me, so I shall go awaken the all-mighty coffee machine from its sleep and beg for some caffeine! And then I can hopefully get right back to writing, the best hobby there is :D

Enjoy!

* * *

A week later, they checked one last time if they had packed all their things while they waited for the others to come. Seto and Katsuya were having a minor argument about the laptop – one side claimed that work couldn't be neglected **completely** while the other side declared that it was a hazard to pure relaxation and enjoyment. Mokuba and Noa let them bicker in peace and made double-sure that they would have plenty of things to entertain themselves with in case there might be a chance of boredom.

Shortly after noon, the rest of the gang arrived. Mai, Anzu, Yugi and Yami all arrived at the same time, and while Isono and some other household staff members transferred their luggage from the taxis to the spacious limousine that would take them to the airport, particularly one of the two women proceeded to greet her friends rapturously.

"Jou! It's good to see you again, honey!" Mai cheered and embraced him tightly.

"Oof! You said it, Mai…" the blond gasped. As soon as he could breathe again, he felt how a hand gripped his shoulder firmly, signaling possession.

"Hello Mai."

There was a noticeable yet not very distinctive note of displeasure in Seto's voice, but Mai didn't let it get to her.

"Hi Kaiba!" she exclaimed and took a chance: for barely more than one second, she hugged him too, and by the time he began to react, she had already drawn back.

"Anzu, you really need to get a better hold of your girlfriend," the CEO said decidedly.

The brunette laughed. "Oh, don't take it so hard! It's been a while we've seen each other, after all!" In order not to cross a line already, however, she decided to merely shake his hand.

Yugi and Yami approached them, and after a short hello, the Pharaoh, noticing how he was being looked at in a very specific way, said warningly: "Don't even **think** about it, Kaiba."

"Too late," Seto told him; and sure enough, the familiar spark of determination had returned to his eyes. In his opinion, the opportunity was impossible to miss: they would be there for two weeks, and since they wouldn't need to save the world or anything, Yami would need to come up with a better excuse to deny him a duel.

Yami sweatdropped and hoped that they wouldn't be lounging in the hotel the entire time, otherwise he might need to fear a surprise attack from Seto in the middle of the night. It was all for a duel, and everybody knew that the brunet hardly knew any limits concerning that issue.

Shortly thereafter, the rest arrived. Bakura and Ryou came by taxi, and Malik and Marik were on a motorcycle. As no sirens were wailing, the ride had obviously been smooth and free of any sudden dashes or similar stunts that had gotten them into more or less minor trouble with the police before.

"Oh joy, here we go: the Psycho Duo…" Seto sighed when the two yamis walked up to them with their trademark evil grins on their faces while Malik was asking Isono if his motorcycle could be left at the mansion until they would return.

"It can't be **that** bad," Noa remarked, who was quite excited to go on vacation with almost the entire gang.

"When you've seen them in action, we'll talk about that again," Seto countered.

"Roses are red, violets are blue; this party's getting started, so we're here too!" the two in question said loudly.

"Some greeting **that** is," Yami commented dryly.

"I bet it was more creative than **yours**, baka Pharaoh," Bakura sneered.

"Whatever. I assume you spent all the way getting here thinking it up…" was the flat response – this made both Bakura and Marik's faces darken, and they exchanged a meaningful glance.

"Don't get into an argument already! We're not even underway yet!" Yugi tried to persuade them.

"The shrimp – Yugi, I mean – is right. In fact, come in for a moment before we go," Seto offered, eying Marik and Bakura suspiciously; they were oblivious to that, however. They all trooped inside, where Seto took the floor again:

"I hope you all had your shots – that would spare us of any unnecessary and time-consuming stops."

"Of course we did; we're all very responsible. Are you so eager to get there after all?" Malik asked, and some people snickered.

_'Did he just say 'of course'…?'_ Seto merely rolled his eyes after biting back a heated retort. "As I was saying: you all have been told in the meantime that as part of this present for Katsuya, I have taken on all the expenses for your basic stay – that excludes souvenirs and such things. But aside from that, I am **not** responsible for you, so don't even **try** to go sue me if you get into trouble."

Mokuba and Noa just sighed in exasperation. Marik looked amused.

"You're giving us ideas, Priest."

"Don't you dare! By the way: you and your lunatic friend, you will rid yourselves of any knives or daggers or whatever the hell you carry around with you." He glared at them. "It's all up to you: we're not leaving until I can be absolutely sure that you won't give me that sort of trouble at the airport –"

"Because you have a reputation to maintain," Bakura drawled, finishing the sentence for him, "Yeah, yeah, we know…"

"Kura, you don't have any such objects on you, do you?" Ryou asked hopefully. It wasn't **pure** hope, but Ryou liked to believe in miracles.

His darker half scowled at the expression on his hikari's face, then slowly and pointedly reluctantly pulled a knife out of his light jacket. Ryou's face fell as Bakura also extracted some daggers and several other smaller pointy objects like a pocket knife. Marik was doing the same, though Malik held no hopes whatsoever that his personalized darkness could let off that habit. Finally, a "little" pile of potentially hazardous objects was at their feet. Seto pursed his lips as he gazed at that pile. For a moment, there was only silence, then he called for his most faithful servant, and seemingly out of nowhere, Isono appeared.

"Isono, please lock these things away securely. Once we're back, the rightful owners can reclaim them again."

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba," the man replied promptly, then began to gather up the objects.

"Bakura…" Ryou mumbled, shaking his head disappointedly as he remembered reminding his yami to "leave the knives at home, for heaven's sake".

The thief watched wistfully as his treasured weapons were taken away. "I'm just hopeless, Hikari."

"Or you're not trying hard enough."

"**Hopeless**," Bakura and Marik said in unison. They weren't ashamed at all.

Before a discussion about "changing one's habits and why it wasn't a good idea to walk around with weapons even if you **were **a psychotic tomb robber or tomb keeper" could ensue, Mokuba suggested to get going.

"The kid's got a point! Race you outside!" Bakura said hurriedly and cuffed Marik.

"First one there gets to operate the window buttons!" the Egyptian agreed, and they raced out the door. The only time they had been in a limousine was roughly a year ago, and they had yearned to ride in one again ever since.

Quite suddenly, Seto was in somewhat of a hurry to go – in reality, he just aimed at telling the driver as quickly as possible to activate the child safety locks for those buttons before the windows would malfunction. Needless to say, Bakura and Marik were gravely disappointed and sulked for the longest part of the journey…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

At the airport, their first "test" was the long check-in line. It made Seto in particular groan. "Why couldn't the damn offer be for first class flights…?!"

"Welcome to the world of the little people," Malik told him, "You'll gain more experience thanks to this."

"Oh, great. It will change my life forever," Seto answered sarcastically.

"It's not too bad – I've seen much longer lines before," Mai said.

Unfortunately, even that couldn't change the fact that the wait was quite long, once again especially for Seto. His patience was additionally put to the test when most of them started to play "I spy" while they waited.

"I spy with my evil eye something that is about to blow up," Bakura had snickered at one point when the line seemed to have come to a stop for good. Of course, he and Marik insisted on using a slight variation of the basic phrase.

"You shouldn't be making jokes about that," Anzu had frowned. (1)

"It's not what you think, Mazaki."

"**I** get it!" Marik had exclaimed, "Seto Kaiba himself!"

"Point," Bakura had confirmed, and they both had begun to laugh maniacally.

Katsuya had discreetly taken a step to the side when he could have sworn that sparks had just flown from Seto's eyes. Luckily, the line began to move again, and the brunet could convert his upcoming aggressions into an energetic tug at his suitcase.

After checking in their luggage and going through the passport control, the usual security check was due.

"Aren't you glad that you didn't wear your usual assembly of belts and straps?" Katsuya asked cheerfully once he and Seto had passed through the metal detector.

"Yes… and no," Seto replied as he put on the one belt he was wearing again, "Surely you understand that it is a rather unfamiliar feeling to be without them…"

"Sure! But just in case you're wondering: you look good without them too."

"You're being a suck-up now – but an honest one, at least," Seto smirked. Katsuya playfully stuck out his tongue at him, and the CEO was about to fight back with one of his (in such situations) traditional pokes when a shrill beeping sound caused him to frown instead, and he and Katsuya turned around to see what was going on.

Marik had activated the alarm; after all, he was clutching the Sennen Rod. Two security officers had cornered him immediately, and of course he wasn't very pleased about that.

"Sir, I'm afraid we cannot permit you to bring that object on board."

"No way I'm leaving it behind!" Marik protested.

"What is it? A weapon?" one of the men asked, eying the artifact carefully.

"No, it's… it's…" Marik scowled as he tried to quickly come up with a reasonable explanation. "…It's a gadget I've had all my life and am very fond of," he finally answered.

"Seto…" Mokuba began, but his sibling cut him off almost instantly:

"He's all grown up, Mokuba; therefore he must sort this out himself."

The raven-haired teen glanced at Noa, who simply shrugged before looking back at the scene, wondering how the Egyptian would get himself out of the mess.

"Sir, you are familiar with the policy that pointy objects are not allowed on the aircraft, aren't you?"

"Yes, but I can't part with it."

"Oh, come on, it's not a weapon or something to smuggle drugs in, so what's the big screaming deal?" Bakura snorted and walked through the metal detector. His Sennen Ring activated the alarm all over again, and while the crowd behind them stifled a groan, the nearest officer grabbed him by the arm and forced him to stand beside Marik. When the tomb robber growled (he **hated** being pushed around), Ryou and Malik exchanged one more and one slightly less worried glance.

"Really? And what about that round part in front?" the other officer asked.

Bakura and Marik were standing so close next to each other that the former barely needed to move in order to nudge his friend. And because great minds thought alike, that was all it took for them to agree on what was to be done next.

The officers thought that the silence was more than just fishy, and one of them issued his final command: "Sirs, please hand over those two suspicious objects if you wish to proceed."

With a sigh that sounded as if he were saying "You pathetic fools…", Bakura slowly removed the Ring from his neck. The rest of the gang (save Marik) gaped, for none of them would have guessed to ever see the ex-spirit voluntarily give up his item. A malicious smirk dawned on his face when the officers briefly focused their entire attention to the Ring at the same time. Marik reacted instantly: the Wadjet Eye on the Sennen Rod began to glow, and abruptly, the officers stiffened. Their eyes stared into space as the one who was holding the Ring handed it back to Bakura.

"Oh, so everything's alright after all? Why, thank you!" the albino cackled and casually hung the Ring around his neck again.

"Move, baka Pharaoh!" Marik hissed before his face became completely calm once more. The execution of the Rod's mind-control had happened without the other people behind them seeing it, so he wanted to maintain the impression that the situation was still what could be considered "normal"…

Yami started, then quickly stepped through the detector. Again, it beeped; and to his surprise, the brain-washed officers blocked his way.

"Hand over the Puzzle!" one of them said in a voice quite unlike his own.

Yami had only just opened his mouth to protest when the other man lunged at him. Only barely, he dodged that surprise attack, but in a flash, the first officer grabbed his wrist. The Eye of Ra started to glow on Yami's forehead, but the man simply said:

"By the way: have a nice day."

Then he let go, and Yugi's darker half rejoined his hikari again. Ryou and Malik hurried through the detector, and when they were complete again, they went on their way. Once they had put a decent amount of distance between them and the detector, Marik released the two men from his mind-control (they had no memory at all of what had just happened).

"Are you **nuts**?!" Yami exclaimed, "I almost performed Mind Crush on him!"

"I just couldn't resist. Sorry… **not**," Marik sneered while Bakura grinned from ear to ear.

"Kaiba, when is our flight due again?" Anzu asked, skipping a bit to catch up.

"45 minutes," was the curt response.

"Great, so we have some time to go shopping before that! C'mon, Mai!"

"Right behind you, sweetheart," the blonde giggled as the two women ran off to some duty-free store.

"And it's Gate 70, for your information!" Seto called after them. He ran a hand through his brown hair. "This will be one long vacation…"

"Just wait until we're there; I'm sure you'll be thinking differently then! And besides: if you'd just goof off every once in a while, you wouldn't always have the impression of being in kindergarten or something!" Katsuya tried to cheer him up.

"You should know me better; I do not goof off," Seto said sternly.

"Hope dies last."

"Katsuya –"

"I will see that day. Someplace, somewhere, sometime, it **will** happen."

"Dream on."

"Thank you, I will."

"Honestly… wait a moment, where is everybody?" Seto wondered, suddenly noticing the total absence of wicked laughter or (to him) pointless babbling.

Katsuya looked over the other's shoulder. "Mokuba and Noa are at that kiosk over there."

"I just hope they're not buying a shipload of sweets…"

The other two Kaiba brothers weren't rooting around in the sweets section, however; they were at the magazines. Mokuba was close to engrossed with one while Noa was busy cleaning his glasses. (2) A small stack of puzzle books was at his feet.

"What've you got there, champ?" Katsuya asked, peering at what the raven-haired teen was looking at.

"One of my favorite gaming magazines! I need to keep track of the new stuff!" Mokuba answered excitedly.

Seto heard that and huffed – in his opinion, his younger brother would do well with spending more time on his homework than on gaming, but of all issues, that was one of the few in which he was biting on granite. He liked games too; but even so, he didn't really see what Mokuba found so interesting about those magazines. On the other hand, the tables were turned when it came to the business section of a newspaper…

"Noa, you're not planning to buy all of those, are you?" he asked, eying the stack of books that contained Sudokus, Kakuros and some crossword puzzles.

"I just can't decide which ones I should choose," the teal-haired teen answered, still trying to clean his glasses. When another wipe resulted in a new smudge, however, he cried out in frustration: "Oh shit, screw it!"

The whole store fell silent, and the people who were in there as well turned their heads to look at Noa. The boy flushed with embarrassment and hastily bowed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that…" When the other people resumed their activities with some mutters and headshakes, Noa timidly peered up at Seto, who was towering over him with his arms crossed. "Sorry, Seto…"

"I hope you're happy, Noa."

"I didn't mean to!"

"Whoa; you've never had such an outburst in public before!" Mokuba whistled.

"Well, if cleaning glasses would be easier, maybe it wouldn't have happened! I'm really toying with the idea of putting in my lenses again!" Noa defended himself and glared at his glasses.

"Remember that it was just a little over a month ago when you had that eye infection," Seto told him sternly.

"Yeah, that was nasty…" Katsuya sighed, remembering the very bloodshot eyes. The eye doctor had told Noa to mainly rely on his glasses for two weeks at the very least, and even thereafter to let his eyes slowly get used to the lenses again. And besides, most people who wore contact lenses were recommended to wear glasses on an airplane since the air usually was quite dry…

"My first stop at the hotel will be the bathroom," Noa muttered. If his eyesight without the glasses weren't so bad, he wouldn't even be wearing them; but alas, that wasn't the case. Everything was badly blurred without any visual aid. He sighed. "Again, I'm sorry for saying what I said before."

"Just try not to let that happen again, understand?" Seto asked. When Noa nodded, he gave his brother a pat on the shoulder. "Now then, I'll get you all of these –" He picked up the books. "– on one condition."

"Name it."

"Forfeit one or two of these to me."

Noa brightened again and eagerly complied. "Sure! You can even have more than that, if you want!"

"I'll keep it in mind," Seto replied with a smile. His rather spontaneous act of generosity was rewarded with a hug from Noa.

Mokuba and Katsuya looked at each other and made identical movements with their fingers. "They're nuts," they said in unison.

Seto and Noa grinned at each other: while the other two preferred to make trades with sweets and such things, their "currency" consisted of puzzles and more that almost disgusted Mokuba and Katsuya. Two teams, two beliefs. It was the perfect fuel for not-so-serious arguments and debates.

After they had also picked out some sweet stuff for their genuine pleasure (Seto wasn't part of this, of course) and paid for everything, they headed for the gate, where they met up with the rest. Mai was clutching some fashion magazine, and Anzu had her nose in a little travel guide. Bakura and Marik were putting on a "coolness act" with newly-purchased sunglasses. Yami and Yugi were happily sucking on lollipops (this strongly suggested that they had gone on a similar shopping trip like Mokuba and the others), and Ryou and Malik were catching up on things that had happened since their last meeting. Now that they were complete again, they boarded the aircraft – none of them had fear of flying, but some were more excited than others…

_(The seating order was as follows – always in rows of two, looking to the front of the plane:_

_Noa, Mokuba_

_Seto, Katsuya_

_Bakura, Marik_

_Ryou, Malik_

_Yugi, Yami_

_Anzu, Mai)_

"So this is what it's like to fly economy class…" Seto muttered, his eyes slowly looking around as if he were a tourist who didn't dare to turn his head.

"What's the big deal? Oh yeah, I remember: you're the rich snob who always flies first or business class," Bakura said from behind him.

Katsuya looked back at him through the crack between the seats. "Stop calling him a snob. He's **not** a snob!"

"Oh, let him be. Sticks and stones, Katsuya, sticks and stones," Seto reassured him.

"Just expressing myself in the usual fashion, Blondie. No harm intended," Bakura justified himself with a shrug. After the blond's usual smile returned, thus signaling that the issue was settled, the thief whispered to Marik: "But we remember when he used to sound quite different, don't we?"

"Oh yes, that we do," the Egyptian answered with a snicker. They had to try hard to stifle their laughter when they listened how Seto was making low-voiced comments on these (to him) unfamiliar traveling conditions:

"Now I get why they say that there isn't enough room here… God, I think a stretch will be in need once I get the opportunity…"

The two yamis allowed a bit of their laughter to truly escape their lips when Katsuya laughed as well. Seto heard the ones behind him, though, for he said loudly:

"Go ahead and laugh at me; I'll just be awfully tempted to adjust the seat backwards as far as it goes!"

"Ssh!" he heard Bakura hiss, "For Ra's sake, shut up! I do **not** want that guy's head in my lap for 14 bloody hours!"

Seto smirked, pleased that his warning was being heeded.

"Are you sure?" Marik wondered. Another hiss came from Bakura, then a fake wince from the other after he had apparently cuffed his friend.

"Oh brother…" Ryou sighed, supposing that this would be one long flight.

"Don't worry," Malik tried to cheer him up, "I'm sure they'll behave."

"Behave," Ryou repeated, making it sound like a statement that he truly doubted.

"Listen, as long as they don't send the airplane to the Shadow Realm…" Malik's voice trailed off as he folded his hands behind his head.

Ryou sent a quick prayer to heaven that that would be the very last thing to happen, by God.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A while after they were airborne, Malik tapped Bakura on the shoulder.

"What's up with Ryou?"

The albino (who had unfastened his seatbelt in the meantime, like most of the people) got to his knees in the chair and peered over it. Ryou had put on his headphones and was mouthing words with his eyes closed and one hand tapping the arm lean in time with the rhythm.

"Oh Ra… What's he listening to?"

Malik checked the selected channel and the entertainment guide. "…The Beatles," he finally found out.

Bakura grimaced and covered his face with one hand. "Oh, the shame… I should have known! Hikari loves that group, he always does **at least** playback when he hears them… At least he isn't singing out loud. The Beatles, pff!" he snorted and turned around again.

"It's an evidence of a thing called culture, Kura," Ryou's gentle voice reprimanded him. (3)

"How the hell did he…?" Bakura paused, looking confused. Surely that music was loud enough that he couldn't have been heard, and his hikari had blinded himself by closing his eyes…

"There definitely are some advantages to being linked so closely with someone," Ryou grinned at Malik, who merely nodded.

Bakura sighed loudly, then suddenly looked to his left, where a kid was sitting across the aisle. The boy looked first at him, then at Ryou, then back at him again.

"What?!" Bakura almost snarled. He hated getting looked at by little kids – he found their "fish-eyed stares" (as he referred to them) rather unnerving. Usually, they started crying sooner or later anyway because he was such a scary dude… The child didn't answer, but the mother glared at Bakura, whose mouth corner twitched at one side before he looked forward again._ 'Stay calm… you don't want Ryou to get angry at you…'_ He closed his eyes, and his face mirrored his concentration.

Marik, who was curious about what had driven Bakura to mentally chanting a mantra, leaned forward to look around his friend and spotted the child staring at him innocently. That was all he needed to know. Slowly, he let the corners of his mouth travel upwards until an evil grin had finally surfaced for good on his face. He widened his eyes to strengthen the effect. The child squeaked and averted his gaze. The Egyptian snickered and leaned back before the mother would happen to look in his direction. Ah, one of the sweet pleasures of life…!

Later on, Seto gave his laptop to Katsuya as he went to the bathroom. Bakura watched this exchange through the crack between the seats, and once Seto had stood up and gone, he supported himself on the lean of the brunet's seat and said:

"Hey Blondie, would you mind showing me what main picture he has?"

"You mean the desktop picture?"

"Yeah, that."

"Sure, why not…?" Katsuya complied, figuring that Seto wouldn't demand his head just for that. He minimized the windows of what the other had been working on, and Bakura whistled when he saw the picture.

"Ah, memories! Marik, look!"

The other man stood up (as good as he could) and looked. It was Seto and Katsuya's wedding photo. The whole gang agreed that the CEO had never looked happier before, as far as they could tell. He looked very handsome in what he claimed to be his best, navy-blue suit. Katsuya somehow appeared to be even happier, if possible, though it was probably just because his beatific smile still "overpowered" Seto's when it was full-blast. The blond had made a special decision for that occasion: he was wearing a white wedding dress. During the preparation phase, he had hinted that he might pull a stunt like that, and although Seto had claimed that he certainly wouldn't mind, he had guessed that it was more a joke than anything else. But from the moment he had seen his chosen partner in that getup, he had been spellbound, and there were plenty of pictures to prove that.

"You were one hell of a bride," Marik commented.

"It was weird… but weird in a positive way," Katsuya replied, smiling as he remembered that special day.

"I give you a lot of credit for that – I somehow doubt that **I** would do that, not even for Ryou," Bakura mused, "But say, I've just remembered something… Now that I think about it, I never really asked you: how do you guys do it in bed? I mean, do you have strict rules about who is seme and who's uke?"

"Three guesses," Katsuya told him, but elaborated anyhow, "Yeah, we do. I suppose both of you are guessing that Seto is seme – and that's absolutely correct. However…" He quickly peered over the rows of seats to make sure that Seto wasn't coming back quite yet before continuing: "There is one occasion on which **I** get to be the dominant one."

"Really?" Marik asked, interested; he couldn't imagine Seto forfeiting that.

"Yep. He made a deal with me: on my birthday, **I** get to be on top."

Bakura and Marik slowly nodded, impressed.

"Still, that doesn't mean that I don't put up a fight every now and then. What about you guys, anyway? You asked me, so I get to ask you…"

"We alternate more often – but most of the time, I get to be seme," Marik answered, briefly gazing skyward as he couldn't wait for the next night before elbowing Bakura: "But **you've** never done that before, haven't you?"

The tomb robber got a tiny bit pink around the nose. "Actually, I did," he said very quietly.

"No way!" the other two exclaimed.

"Ssh!" Bakura hissed, then explained in a low voice: "Once, I was very drunk when I got home – and I mean **very** drunk. I only remember one or two tiny snippets of that night… The next day, Ryou told me that I had held him captive in bed and that I had practically begged for him to be on top, but he had refused as long as he could because he didn't want to take advantage of me. But apparently, I left him with no other choice. He told me that he would never do that again unless I am sober **and** willing to repeat that. Not that he didn't enjoy it, but… you know…"

"That action has 'Ryou' written all over it," Katsuya agreed with a short glance at the Briton, who was taking a nap before dinner would be served.

"Oh, come on, Blondie, I can imagine that **you** wouldn't do that either!" Bakura remarked.

"Yeah…"

"Wouldn't do what?" Seto's voice suddenly interrupted.

Bakura started. "Oh, nothing!" he said as quickly as he could. He had barely even finished when Marik gave the true answer, however:

"He wouldn't take advantage of you if you were drunk, even if you'd ask him to."

"Baka!" the albino growled, then looked Seto straight in the eye: "If you're gonna lay back your seat because of that, Priest, I'll make sure to send it straight to the Shadow Realm, and you had better pray that you won't get sent there as well!"

Seto raised an eyebrow, but didn't answer immediately. Instead, he checked on his brothers, who both had fallen asleep in the meantime. Mokuba had obviously aimed for that to happen, for he had bedded his head on his arms on the fold-down table. Noa had bowed his head; a puzzle book was open in his lap, and the pen he was holding was about to make a getaway. Seto carefully took the pen and used it as a reminder to which puzzle the boy had been working on last. After putting the book away, he gently removed Noa's glasses. The teen didn't move an inch. His older brother brushed a stray hair strand out of his face before returning to his seat for good and tucking the glasses into his breast pocket.

"Now, what's all this about taking advantage and being drunk?" he asked, sounding as if nothing had just happened.

Bakura and Marik caught on to the look Katsuya was giving them: namely, that they shouldn't comment on what they had just witnessed. Seto usually didn't do such things around others exactly because of that, but this time it had just… happened…

"Think about it, Kaiba, and tell us your opinion: do you believe that Jou would take advantage of you if you were drunk and begging him to dominate you for the night?" Marik asked.

_'…Don't ask how they got to this subject, just don't,'_ Seto told himself, then answered: "That's a rather unlikely situation… but assuming that it would indeed occur, I would guess… I would guess that Katsuya wouldn't do that, no."

"That's what I thought too," Bakura agreed.

"Aha. Listen, now that that is settled, would you mind…?"

The yamis understood, grinned and then sat back again (Bakura noticed that the little kid was staring at him once again…). Seto took his laptop back, gazed at the picture for a few seconds before activating the standby mode and then said quietly:

"You know, that really was one of the happiest days in my life."

"Yeah, I second that… sometimes I wish we could experience it all over again," Katsuya sighed wistfully.

"So do I, puppy," Seto murmured and put an arm around him. As the blond leaned against his shoulder, he let his thoughts wander along memory lane. In January of last year, he had proposed to Katsuya. On his birthday, even. Everything had been absolutely deliberate. Until they had married on October 17th, countless hearts of obsessed single fangirls had been shattered after the announcement that Seto Kaiba wasn't up for grabs anymore.

After they had gotten together in their senior year at high school, Katsuya had received quite a few dark-natured letters, some of which had either predicted him having a slow and most painful death, and others that had accused him of unfairly claiming Seto's heart in such a sappy fashion that it by far didn't have the heart-wrenching effect it originally should have had. Seto had been more than just displeased, and that had been the start of him having a protective eye on Shizuka's brother whenever he could. Light-hearted as he was, Katsuya hadn't given the letters much thought and therefore didn't really comprehend why he so often found himself being followed by plain-clothed bodyguards – it was one of the main issues they argued about.

And the wedding had been another story in itself… (4)

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When it was time for dinner, Bakura reached around his seat and pinched Ryou's thigh. Of course, this caused his counterpart to awaken with a yelp which spared Marik from performing a similar action as Malik was startled out of his catnap as well.

"Yow! Bakura, why can't you wake me up more gently?" Ryou complained.

"Old habits are hard to change, Hikari."

"Some 'old' habit that is!" Ryou knelt in his seat and supported himself on the lean of the thief's chair. A disappointed frown came up on his face when he saw how Seto was waking Noa up in a much more considerate way. It made him a tad bit jealous to see the teal-haired teen gratefully hug Seto's arm before retrieving his glasses from the brunet. "See, you could take a leaf out of Kaiba's book!" he said in a low whisper, tapping his yami on the head and pointing in the general direction just as Katsuya reached over the seat and woke Mokuba up in a similar fashion (in secret, he was surprised that he would ever tell anyone to take a leaf out of Seto's book).

Bakura reached up and swatted his lighter half's hand away. "If I wouldn't love you so much, **dear** Ryou, I would tell you to kiss my ass."

"I'm sorry, Kura… let me kiss your hand instead," Ryou replied softly before grabbing the other's hand and kissing the back of it. This provoked a satisfied smile on his love's face, and he couldn't wait until they would have a bit more privacy so he could kiss back, but rather on the lips instead of the hand…

The rest of the flight was more or less peaceful, much to Ryou's relief. When most of them were asleep, however, Bakura noticed something that sparked his interest: the little boy who kept staring at him for some reason (it was making him become mildly paranoid) was obviously in need of going to the bathroom. The kid cast a glance at his sleeping mother, seemed to collect his courage and then climbed out of his seat. When the youngster felt a tap on his shoulder, he turned around and stared right into Bakura's face, which bore a scary grin.

"Need to use the throne, don't you?" that white-haired man asked in a tone of voice that made you want to turn tail and run away if you were to meet him on the streets at night.

"Actually, I need to go the bathroom," the boy replied, not quite understanding what the other had meant.

"Yes, that's what I said. Well, let me give you a piece of advice: you must be very, very careful when you use those toilets. They're evil, you know, and could possibly suck you down when you flush." Bakura grinned when he saw the child's dark eyes widen in worry, yet he did an amazing job of keeping his voice serious. "Yes, really. It has happened before that some kids who used those toilets never returned from them. I've witnessed it myself. Their parents and the stewardesses looked everywhere, but they were nowhere to be found. Ever. Perhaps you should get up onto the sink when you're about to flush, hmm?"

"U-Um… thanks, sir… a lot…" the boy stammered and slowly approached the bathroom, where Anzu was already waiting for it to become vacant again. Of course, she had been watching the entire thing and frowned when Bakura leaned back with smugness written in capital letters all over him. Once the boy took his place beside her as he waited, she gently put a hand on his shoulder.

"Excuse me, but I happened to see how you talked to my friend… Would you mind telling me what he said?"

"He said that the toilet might suck me down if I'm not careful," was the hushed response.

Anzu shook her head and smiled at him. "Forget what he said, that's utter nonsense. He likes to mess around with people. Don't worry; the toilet will do no such thing."

"Really?" The child looked relieved. "That's good; I don't think Mother would be too happy about that…"

The brunette laughed. "Exactly!" When a man stepped out of the toilet, she made an inviting gesture. "You go on first."

"You were here before me, ma'am."

"It's okay; I can wait a little longer. Go right on."

"Thank you very much!" The boy shortly bowed to her before disappearing into the bathroom.

While she waited, Anzu shot a dark look at the tomb robber, who was apparently taking a nap._ 'Bakura, sometimes you really are a bastard…'_

After relinquishing the bathroom to Anzu, the little boy went back to his seat, but paused before sitting down. He turned around and glared at Bakura, who was supporting his head with one hand as he dozed. A sly look appeared on the child's face, and then he took revenge: he reached out, grasped one of the outstanding white bangs and gave a short, but hard tug. Even while Bakura woke with a start, yelping with pain, the boy hastily resumed his seat, doing a good job of suppressing his glee (for the moment).

It was a wake-up with consequences: it didn't take Bakura more than three seconds to whirl around in his seat, glare at the boy and know who had pulled his hair. He could feel it in his guts, like he always did when people pulled his hair. Snarling and eager for revenge, he stood up in a flash. Unfortunately, he did that very carelessly and therefore roughly bumped against the back of the chair in front of him in the process. This woke Seto up just as suddenly, and naturally, the CEO was beyond furious. Before Bakura got a chance to pounce on the boy or send him to the Shadow Realm, he was roughly pushed back into his seat and gasping for air a split second later when two hands wrapped themselves around his throat. Anyone who knew "The Simpsons" (5) would have found the momentary scene very familiar. This sudden commotion made many heads turn in their direction while the rest of the gang woke up as well and noticed what was going on: Noa and Mokuba whistled as they plucked at the collars of their shirts, watching the scene bug-eyed while Katsuya tried to hold Seto back – Marik did the same, only from the front end. Malik looked as if he thought that the eldest Kaiba brother had gone completely bonkers, and Ryou cringed, wondering what on earth Bakura had done now and knowing that his attempts to interfere would be fruitless. Mai just shook her head as if to say: "**Boys**…!" Yugi had already started to get up when Yami held him back, calmly declaring that "the tomb robber must sort out his affairs on his own".

In the middle of this, before a stewardess could come see what was going on, Anzu came back from the bathroom and cracked up when she saw how Bakura was acquiring a blue hue on his face. On the way back to her seat, she stopped at the thief's seat and giggled:

"I guess you won't go lying to little kids anymore, will you, Bakura?"

"…Mazaki!" the albino hissed, realizing that she had thwarted his attempt to strike terror into a certain little boy's heart.

"**That's** why you woke me up?!" Seto exclaimed angrily.

"Oh, like I **wanted** to!" Bakura choked while Anzu let them be as she went to fill in Mai, Yugi and Yami on how that mess had come to be.

"Blasted psycho… where's the kid?" Seto demanded.

Glaring daggers at him, Bakura pointed. The brunet looked and now clearly saw the amusement on the boy's face while the mother stared at them, perplexed.

"Way to go, kiddo. Really. Now I also know who I don't want to have sitting behind me on the way back."

With that statement, he finally released Bakura's neck, leaving the ex-spirit to fitfully catch his breath again.

"Nii-sama, you looked as if you were Homer Simpson and Bakura was Bart," Mokuba remarked, impressed at the elder's outburst.

"Like **who**?" Seto asked back, nonplussed.

"Oh, nothing… just something from a cartoon…"

Noa snickered, and Seto guessed that he was better off not understanding the raven-haired teen's comment – even more so because it had something to do with cartoons, and those definitely weren't his cup of tea. Not in a million years.

"Note to self: never ever wake up Seto Kaiba so suddenly," Katsuya said faintly, staring at his partner.

"You wouldn't like it either, puppy. I just… briefly lost my temper." Seto sounded as if he were talking about the weather.

"Consider yourself lucky, Priest!" a dark voice growled behind them.

"Bakura, perhaps you'd want to keep quiet… I mean, he came really close to strangling you…" Malik's yami muttered.

"Is that so?" Seto said loudly.

"Yeah! You had the element of surprise on your side this time, but next time, your next stop might just be –"

"Let me guess: that blasted Shadow Realm?" Seto interrupted.

"I know you think I'm spouting a bunch of boloney, but I'd be happy to prove to you that it **does** exist!"

"Listen to your… **friend**; for once, he's actually being reasonable," Seto advised him.

Before the argument could continue, a stewardess came by.

"Sirs, is there a problem?" she asked friendly.

"We're cool," Katsuya quickly assured her.

She looked at Marik and Bakura – the Egyptian made a similar, reassuring statement. It seemed to satisfy her, for she nodded and then continued on her way.

"What on earth made you lie to that innocent little boy?" Ryou asked incredulously.

Bakura spun around and looked around his chair. "Innocent little boy?!" he repeated, "Innocent?! He pulled my hair and you call him **innocent**?!"

"That's one old man who needs to grow up," Seto said on the quiet. Katsuya quickly clapped a hand over his mouth as his shoulders shook with laughter.

"I heard that!" Bakura snarled and pushed against the lean of the CEO's seat.

"Kindly keep your hands to yourself, you psycho."

"You'll be dead meat if I ever meet you in the pool or the ocean."

As the argument came to an end, Ryou buried his face in his hands. "Doesn't anyone have any sleeping pills…?"

"Oh, don't tell me that it's that bad, Ryou…" Malik tried to appease him, patting his shoulder.

"Not for **me**," Ryou whispered, "I was thinking along the lines of ordering a cup of tea for Bakura and spiking it with them so there won't be any trouble anymore."

Malik stared. "I don't think I'll ever accept a drink from you again, my friend."

Ryou playfully stuck out his tongue at him.

Fortunately, Bakura was too busy pouting to hear that secret plot against him…

* * *

Note that the chapter lengths will vary; I do try not to make them uber-short or something, but I can't guarantee a consistent number of words (meaning differences of 1000 words or such)... Just for your information n.n;; (formerly, I tried to keep up that consistency)

(1) I didn't mean to, but I did make a similar comment at Heathrow airport when we went to London - luckily, only my family heard it. It was embarrassing, and I still wish I hadn't said it, so nobody needs to get on my case or anything... -.-;;

(2) It has its purpose, believe me...

(3) That's what one of my music teachers said once - he was totally obsessed with songs by The Beatles, and I've sung enough of them to last for a lifetime ;)

(4) I'm pondering whether I should try and make an attempt to write a (brief?) insight about that - I've gotten a little start. If you want, I will gladly continue that and include it at some point throughout the story.

(5) Of course, I don't own anything of that either!

I have looked through the photos to refresh my memory and have noted numerous things that will be bound to happen - but if you have any additonal suggestions/wishes, you're more than welcome to tell me! But you must excuse me now, my two cats are begging for attention... _(forfeits the comfortable office chair to the "fatso" of the two and goes to sit on a plain, wobbly stool instead)_


	3. Chapter 3

And yet another rainy/cold week gone by... it's so amusing to hear everyone else complain about it :) I like it - in summer, it'll be warm (or rather: hot) long enough, I presume. Anyways, I imagined sunny, African weather so I could continue with this. Thank you very much, reviewers! Your feedback means everything to me!

Now onward to chapter three: they're there! Enjoy!

* * *

It was shortly after eleven pm local time when they arrived – of course, to them, it felt like it were five in the morning.

"Wow, this sure is a temperature change!"

Looking happy about it, Bakura took off his light jacket and tied it around his waist. As usual, he and his friend weren't all that tired, despite the time and the journey. "What do you think, Marik?"

"Very mild, indeed," the Egyptian replied contently, "And this is only nighttime we're talking about…"

"What; mild?! Hot is more like it!" Seto argued as he stretched thoroughly.

"You just **had** to wear black, didn't you?" Katsuya laughed.

"I'm definitely not wearing anything in addition to my boxers tonight," the tall brunet muttered as they proceeded to the passport control, pointedly ignoring some interjected recommendations from several others that he didn't even need to wear anything at all.

On the way to the control point, Noa tagged along with Bakura and Marik. He guessed that what they had done on the plane could be considered a taste of what they were like when they were "in action", and he was curious to see more of that in order to determine whether Seto's judgment of them being the "Psycho Duo" was justified or not. Of course, the two yamis were rather pleased with the interest that was being taken in their personalities.

"Of course your brother would call us that – we're not offended, though, surely not – but what else could be expected of him? He's a bore," Marik told him.

"A bore? That doesn't appear like an adequate expression to describe Seto," Noa frowned.

"It isn't? **I** think so – I take one look at his life and know that aside from the riches, I'd be the unhappiest being on the planet. Just look at how much he works…"

"Things would be different if more people were like us… different as in: **better**," Bakura explained, "You could make noise until the early hours of the morning, for example!"

"Yeah. And there would be no more alarms if you're carrying a Sennen item," Marik pointed out.

"No surprise there…" Noa laughed as they approached the passport control. As the other two readied their passports, he noticed their pictures. "Ooh, looks like a prison photo," he remarked. (1)

"Did you think I'd put on the same goofy smile everyone else has on theirs? Think again," Bakura snorted before grinning at his unsmiling, grim-looking photographed self.

"Seto isn't smiling on his either."

"Every time we see that guy smile, we wonder if he's malfunctioning." Marik's face fell until it perfectly resembled the one on his photograph as he gave his ID to the officer, but the moment he got the passport back, the evil grin returned – the same went for Bakura.

Noa decided to let that comment go unanswered. Instead, he said: "I wish **my** photo would look like that."

"Then why did you smile in the first place?"

"Seto bribed me."

"With what? Oh wait, dumb question: money, of course –"

"Nope. The game arcade."

Marik raised an eyebrow. "Huh? But the squirt told us that you guys have just about every one of those gaming thingies known to man!"

"Mokuba has grown, in case you haven't noticed. And besides: I was flat-out grounded from gaming when this was taken," the teal-haired Kaiba brother answered, closing his passport with a sigh.

"With good reason," Seto interrupted and put out his hand, "I'll take that again, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead… Seto, can't I get a picture like Bakura and Marik?" Noa asked as he handed back the passport.

The cerulean eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why? What do theirs look like? No, wait, I don't want to know –"

"Like **this**." Bakura pushed his passport under the CEO's nose.

"Where was this taken, in jail? A pretty good guess, if I say so myself – all you're missing is the slate with the numbers…"

"Very funny, Priest. No, this was taken where all other people get their photos taken as well."

"So it really **does** look like a prison photo. …Cool!" Marik grinned in the meantime, looking at his picture again.

"Do you believe me now?" Seto asked.

Noa cheerfully shook his head. "No. In fact, I think they're kinda cool!"

"The kid's got taste," Bakura complimented as he gave Marik a high-five.

"Katsuya, brace yourself to get told that we might have to bail Noa out of juvenile hall someday," Seto said exasperatedly when he rejoined his partner on their way to the baggage carousel.

"Why? Because he's hanging out with Bakura and Marik?"

"Why else?"

"Hey, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Take that back right now."

"Oh, loosen up a bit! How are you gonna enjoy yourself if you keep worrying so much about what they might do? They've got their hikaris to look out for them."

Seto sighed when the blond linked pinkies with him. "Why is it that that doesn't reassure me…?"

"Never seen this before, Pharaoh?" Marik asked while they waited for their luggage.

"Of course I have!"

"Well, you look as if you haven't!"

"I bet he's wondering what goes on behind the scenes," Bakura guessed, pointing to where the suitcases and bags appeared and disappeared.

"Who doesn't?" Yami retorted defensively.

"If you're so curious, why don't you go sit on it and see for yourself?"

"That's not allowed," Mai told them.

Two exasperated sighs. "And there goes our lovely plan for leaving the Pharaoh behind…"

"When will you quit plotting against me all the time?!"

"When Kaiba wears a pink tutu and dances ballet," the other two yamis answered promptly.

Yami cast an only dimly hopeful look at Seto and wondered exactly how much he would be gambling with his life if he actually asked the brunet to do him that favor. Maybe if he promised him a duel in return… Yugi's darker half made a mental note to keep the question in mind until in about a week's time, if possible.

After all of them had finally retrieved their luggage, they set off to find their transportation to the hotel. In front of the airport, they spotted a man holding up a sign with Seto's name and the one of the travel agency on it. He was standing next to a rather small-looking van.

"You've got to be kidding me! Even Yugi is taller than that thing!" Seto exclaimed.

"Hey!" the short teen huffed, making a pause from sleepily rubbing his eyes.

"That's not funny, Kaiba!" Yami said angrily.

"Don't pardon me…"

"Jambo!" the black man greeted them with a wide smile that showed off his very white teeth.

"Wow, I wonder what toothpaste they use…" Mai sighed.

"What did he say?" Mokuba wondered.

"That means hello!" Anzu explained, having consulted her little book, and held out her hand to him. "Jambo!"

The man looked absolutely delighted to hear them using his native language (even if it only was a mere greeting), and if possible, his smile broadened even more as he shook her hand. In slightly broken English, he then told them that he would take them to the hotel and motioned to them to get into the van.

"This is what I call service!" Bakura grinned when he gladly let the driver stow away his suitcase.

"It says in here that they're very friendly people, so that could be expected," Anzu told him, waving her little book in front of his face.

"I vote for Mazaki to be our translator and personal guide otherwise," the albino promptly said.

With agreeing mutters, the gang got into the van. Being the tallest of them, Seto's head nearly touched the ceiling already then. It proved to be a major disadvantage quite soon after the van got onto the streets: although they did look like they were asphalted, they were quite bumpy. It wasn't long before one of those bumps caused Seto's head to make contact with the top of the van.

"Ow! God dammit!" he hissed.

"Nii-sama!" Mokuba playfully scolded, turning around and shaking his head at the elder.

"That from the guy who told me off for saying 'shit, screw it'," Noa agreed, though he looked amused.

"I'm just encouraging you not to use such language, or at least not so often! I never claimed to be a role model, either!" Seto replied grumpily, discreetly rubbing his head a bit.

"Jou, you're supposed to be comforting Seto!" Mokuba said to the blond, who was leaning against the window and about to nod off. Before the other could give an answer, Seto spoke up:

"Mokuba, do I look like I **need** that, like I'm crying or something? No, so –"

"Maybe not, but you **are** in pain!"

The CEO waved his hand dismissively and grimaced as yet another bump sent him straight up to the evilly low van top. He wondered about two things: first, how was he supposed to relax like this? Hopefully they wouldn't have to sit in a vehicle like this anytime soon again… And secondly, he figured that if this would go on like this all the way to the hotel and he didn't do something about it soon, he might be demented by the time they got there – which in turn would lead to the question whether he had somehow insured himself in case that happened…

Because it was so late, the ride was rather quiet, save for some snippets that could be heard from Anzu and Mai's conversation with the driver. Most of the others tried to at least nap despite the bumpy ride – as a safety measure, Seto made himself a bit small in his seat before leaning over and relying on Katsuya for support plus a live, substitute cushion. Otherwise, only Bakura and Marik were practically strengthening the effect of the bumps, enjoying the ride very much… (2)

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It was roughly midnight when they arrived at the hotel, the "Two Fishes". Once there, they shook off their tiredness long enough that they could fill out the check-in forms, but they were too tired to truly get around to admiring the hotel lobby, where traditional wooden animal sculptures stood around. While the receptionist was getting their keys, Mokuba saw something that made him become wide awake again for a moment:

"Ooh, look, a cat!"

"Where?" Noa asked, briefly snapping out of his drowsiness too.

"On the chair!" The raven-haired teen rushed over to said chair, where a little black cat was sleeping. It blinked sleepily when Mokuba softly began to pet it.

"Aw, it's so cute…" Noa marveled, lightly scratching it beneath its chin. It began to purr.

"Noa, Mokuba, let's get going; Seto got the keys. The cat will probably be here tomorrow too. Hi there, little fella, by the way," Katsuya said, waving a bit at the cat, which just blinked at him.

"But…" Mokuba began. When a yawn cut him off, however, he nodded. "Okay." He petted the cat one last time, then he and Noa went back to the others as they set off to find their rooms.

"Aren't these keys charming? They even have wooden animals on them!" Anzu squealed, marveling at it.

"How much would you like it if they were alive, I wonder…?" Bakura muttered darkly. He had just remembered how it had actually been the brunette's fault that his scheme of psycho-terrorizing a little boy had gone to the dogs. The Eye on his Ring had only started to gleam ever so faintly when Ryou slapped the back of his hand.

"No Shadow Magic, Bakura! We've been through this before!"

"Hey, I want revenge!"

"Because of a little boy you'll probably never see again? Isn't there something that's worth more than that? Please, Kura…"

"Mustn't get soft, mustn't get soft…" Bakura muttered in vain, but as if by a will of its own, his arm laid itself around his hikari's waist, signaling that he was complying with the request – for this time.

Since it was dark and they were tired, the few attempts to get some first impressions of their surroundings were rather half-hearted. Basically, all they noticed were a lot of exotic plants and round, two-story hut-like buildings with white walls (the receptionist had called them "bungalows"). More details would be seen the next day… Eventually, they found out that they were never more than one bungalow apart from each other, so they remained relatively complete until they split up for good.

Of course, the whole Kaiba family stayed in the same place.

"See you tomorrow, guys. Sleep well," Katsuya said as he hugged Mokuba and Noa.

"You too, Jou. Thanks that we could come along."

"Remember that Seto booked this trip, though."

"But it was **your** idea, puppy," the brunet retorted, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks to both of you, then, if that's what you want to hear," Noa suggested for a compromise, then the two younger teens hugged Seto as well before heading to their room.

Finally, they could check out the room. He had barely stepped inside when Katsuya stopped short and stared.

"Holy… **this** is a four-star-hotel?!"

In private, Seto admitted that he was surprised too. The bed was larger than he had expected it to be, and as if in a welcoming gesture, the sheets were strewn with little chocolate hearts. The room was simple, but very nice indeed – it even had air conditioning, he could feel that. (3)

'_Well, living here for two weeks might be easier than I thought it would be – concerning the nights so far, at least…'_ he thought.

"Yay, chocolate! These people rock!" Katsuya cheered, and the way he went straight for the little hearts reminded Seto of a vulture that jumped at a deceased animal when the coast was clear. "Want one?" the blond asked, already having stuffed one into his mouth.

"No, thanks," Seto friendly refused, "I actually want to get some sleep now."

"So do I. Couldn't let this sweet stuff get away just like that, though." Katsuya gathered up the other hearts and dumped them onto his bedside table, then stripped himself of his shirt and jeans before gracelessly letting himself fall onto the sheets, where he stretched so thoroughly as if he were making some wild attempt to make himself taller just like that. "I don't care what anyone says: I'm gonna be lazy now and unpack tomorrow. The bags aren't gonna run away, I suppose…"

"You're right. We're in no hurry," Seto agreed as he lay down beside him.

For a moment, they were silent, then Katsuya grinned: "I know we haven't seen diddly-squat yet, but I wanna ask anyway: what's your first impression? Wish you'd still be in Japan, sitting in that office and slaving away?"

As an initial response, Seto took off his shirt and pants too. "Well, first I'll need to get used to this temperature, and tomorrow we'll have to go see exactly how it is here. Therefore, I can't really answer that question yet, save for one thing."

"And that is…?"

Seto hugged him and kissed his temple. "You're here, puppy, and that's all the reason I need to like it."

"You didn't even want to go at first," Katsuya mumbled, snuggling up closer and nuzzling Seto's neck.

"I changed my mind because of you."

"I love you so much, Seto…"

"And I love you too, Katsuya," the CEO whispered in return.

What was left to be done was a kiss, and that was exactly what happened before they fell asleep for the first time that vacation.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

For a very short moment, Seto wondered where he was when he woke up the next morning. It was very warm, and these weren't his satin sheets… Then he remembered. He was in Africa. On vacation, even. Noticing that the spot beside him was empty, he sat up rather quickly.

"Katsuya?"

It was then that he noticed the door was open. From outside, someone said happily:

"Hey, he's finally awake! Catch ya guys later, okay?"

"Right! See you in a bit, Jou!"

The voices of Mokuba and Noa drifted away as the two boys presumably ran off. A split second later, Katsuya bounded through the door, already properly dressed for beach vacation in swimming trunks and an airy shirt. A pair of sunglasses was perched on his head.

"Mornin', Seto! C'mon, I wanna go check this place out!"

"And…?"

The blond faltered. "What d'you mean, 'and'?"

"I know you well enough to claim that there is another reason for your impatience to go look around," Seto explained.

Catching on, Katsuya fidgeted a bit before adding: "…And I'm hungry."

Seto smirked. "I knew it. Just give me a few moments, and I'll be right with you."

"'Kay! I'll wait outside!" In a flash, the other was gone again, leaving Seto to decide on his own "vacation outfit".

A short while later, Seto left the room to find Katsuya waiting for him downstairs – but not alone. He was conversing with Yami and Yugi.

"Good morning, Kaiba!" Yugi said cheerfully.

"Someone must have had a good sleep –"

"Is **that** what you're gonna wear all day?" Katsuya interrupted, looking the brunet over skeptically.

"What's your point? Just because I'm not running around looking like you?"

"You look like you usually do on weekends, that's all…" _'Well, if he'll complain because it's too hot, I'll tell him that it's entirely his fault,'_ Katsuya decided. It was beyond his comprehension why Seto had chosen to wear long, dark grey linen pants and a cobalt blue T-shirt. Specifically the long pants almost bothered him.

"I do hope you have no plans for today, Yami," Seto said semi-cryptically as they walked off, deciding that sooner or later, they would find the dining place.

"I won't duel you, Kaiba," the Pharaoh answered firmly, seeing right through that comment.

"Why not? We don't need to save the world, we wouldn't even need to do anything responsible, in fact (of course, I will still work a bit in-between), so why the hell not?!"

"Because I don't want to. There's more to do than just duel. And it's bugging me that you keep pestering me…"

"And it bugs **me** that you keep avoiding me like that! What does a guy have to do to get a duel around here?" Seto burst out exasperatedly.

Katsuya and Yugi just sighed, shaking their heads at their better halves; although neither of the two was willing to admit it, their duel-bickering was part of the "kindergarten" that Seto frequently mentioned when he was around the gang.

Meanwhile, Yami had fallen into thoughtful silence, pondering his answer. Of course, he had **something** in mind – but hell was more likely to freeze over before Seto would comply with that request. Although… maybe he just needed to take a chance for once.

"You could dance ballet in a pink tutu," he suggested, trying to sound casual and as if he had just come up with that.

As one could probably guess, though, this made Seto raise a skeptic eyebrow. "What in the blazes makes you think I'd do **that**?" In the background, Yugi and Katsuya gaped open-mouthed, completely not having expected that. "Oh wait, I get it: it's some weird joke of yours. Perhaps your sense of humor is more twisted than I thought…"

'_Oh darn, there goes my chance to get peace from Bakura and Marik!'_ Yami thought with a twinge of ruefulness, _'But if I'm completely honest, I must admit that I held close to no hopes that Kaiba would comply.'_

Yugi's eyes became even wider when he realized (thanks to their special connection) that Yami had actually been serious, albeit not hopeful.

"That would be something worth making a movie out of," Katsuya said faintly, still goggling at Yami.

"It would go all the way to Broadway!" Yugi agreed in awe.

"Enough of the ballet already!" Joke or not, Seto didn't necessarily like the idea of people discussing that issue out in the open like that. Fortunately, he spotted a perfect opportunity to change the subject: "Look, pup, isn't that a breakfast buffet over there?"

"Where?" Thoughts of tutus and dancing were instantly banished from the blond's mind and replaced with food instead. "Oh yeah, there it is! Banzai!" With that battle cry, he made a beeline for it.

The other three sighed in unison – some things were destined never to change, and the mad dashes Katsuya made for food when being deprived of it were a perfect example for that. And truly nothing in the world could stop him then. Acting up to that principal, nobody made any attempts whatsoever to call him back or perform a similarly pointless action, and they entered the place at a leisurely pace instead.

"Nii-sama! Over here!" Mokuba's voice called out to them, and they looked in its direction to find that everyone else (save Bakura and Marik) was sitting at a large table and enjoying breakfast. As they proceeded to join them, they marveled at the buffets, which were richly decorated with exotic flowers, palm branches and even some more animal sculptures. There were lots and lots of fruit, bread, cereal, meat and such, and there also were cooks who made you an omelet exactly the way you wanted it. Katsuya was right there, and he was practically drooling because it smelled so good. At the table, recommendations were dealt out right and left:

"You gotta try the orange juice!"

"The pineapple's good too!"

"And these papayas are sheer poetry!"

Yami and Yugi were doing their best to listen to everyone at once, but Seto only took so much before he put an end to it:

"If you made a list, it would be easier to keep track of," he said sarcastically.

"We would, hon, but there's neither paper nor a pen around here," Mai retorted, playing right along.

"Speaking of keeping track of things… Kaiba, perhaps you should see to Jou," Malik remarked.

"Why?" Seto asked with a frown and turned around. Almost instantly, he balled his hands to fists, and no one would have been surprised if a small thunderstorm had appeared over his head…

At the buffet, Katsuya was still waiting for his omelet (he wanted so many things in it that it was bound to need much longer preparation time than an ordinary omelet). Beside him, with a glass of papaya juice in one hand, stood a blonde that perfectly matched the term "beach babe". Even a blind man could have "seen" that she was very interested in the young man who could barely take his eyes off the food – regardless of that, she kept batting her eyelashes flirtatiously at him.

The situation wasn't entirely new to Seto, yet he still hated it with an immense passion. Sometimes he wondered whether certain women either hadn't read that Katsuya wasn't a bachelor anymore or if they simply hoped to bewitch him enough with their looks and attitude until he went astray. There was one important feature about the blond that didn't accord with that plan, however: he was very faithful. Anzu had once said that that was a very distinctive feature of an Aquarius, but Seto didn't believe in astrology; he tended to associate that with the impression that his partner was more puppyish than the other was willing to admit. In any case, Katsuya hadn't shown any signs of impending betrayal ever since he had gotten together with Seto, even more so after their marriage – Hiroto and Ryuji occasionally claimed that that was a lie and that he merely wasn't showing it, but that couldn't explain why the brother of their adored Shizuka sooner or later always kindly pointed out that he was happily taken and therefore wouldn't let himself get involved with more than a friendly conversation. That was the point when some ladies would back off (thus escaping Seto's fury) while others would carry on relentlessly, as if they thought that Seto Kaiba couldn't possibly be **that** possessive of his family and (few) loved ones. But oh, how wrong they were…

"Say, handsome, how do you feel about going swimming afterwards? Just you and me. Perhaps in a nice little cove where hardly anyone comes by, I know there's one not too far away…"

By then at the latest, Katsuya realized what she really was aiming at, and he shook his head, making use of the English he had learned to answer her. "No, thanks. I'm already taken and don't want to put that at risk."

"Really? Who is the lady who won your heart, hmm?" she purred, moving a bit closer.

"Not –"

"Not a lady, last I checked," a cold voice answered.

The woman turned her attention away from Katsuya's face and noticed the tall man standing at his shoulder. The look she was given told her to stop right there if she knew what was good for her.

"Wait a moment…" she said thoughtfully, studying his face, "Aren't you…?" She paused, and with a look that could almost be described as a frown, she tried to think of the name that was at the tip of her tongue.

"Sorry that the omelet's taking so long; I think I wanted too many things in it…" Katsuya muttered in Japanese while the woman racked her brains.

"It's okay, pup; apparently, **that** is not the problem," Seto replied, glaring daggers at she who dared to make moves on his puppy.

"Oh, I give up, it must have slipped my mind!" the female finally exclaimed, "A bit of help, perhaps?"

Seto didn't answer, but Katsuya did: "He's Seto Kaiba."

Her blue eyes bulged. "What?! **The** Seto Kaiba?! Then… then you must be…" she stammered, looking back at the other man, "…Katsuya Jounouchi!"

"Katsuya **Kaiba** now, but yeah, that's me," he grinned.

Her next reply would determine how the situation would continue to develop – and she happened to make a bad decision: "That would be one hot threesome!"

To say that the look on Seto's face was livid upon hearing that would have been a dreadful understatement. No word known to man could have provided a near-accurate description of it. In a voice that was practically drenched with venom, he hissed:

"I advise you to never again mention something like that in my presence! Now, perhaps you would want to move to a different location in this hotel…" Preferably to the other end of it was what he meant, of course.

Anyone who had common sense knew that it was highly unwise to trifle with Seto Kaiba; luckily for the blonde, she did have that common sense and therefore understood the implied warning. Slowly, she backed off, but even as she walked away, she kept looking back as if wanting to make sure that it wasn't some kind of fantasy.

"Ooh, Kaiba must be giving her the evil eye," Malik whistled.

"It's so like his zodiac sign!" Anzu made a gesture to the heavens. "As a Scorpio, he **is** obsessive and jealous, after all…" (4)

The others thought about this for a moment before nodding in agreement: whenever they got together, Seto made it clear in sometimes more and sometimes less subtle ways how fond he was of his puppy. The same went for Mokuba and Noa too, and Bakura had once remarked that the CEO would probably still keep up that attitude even if he were paralyzed from the neck down or something.

A few minutes later, Seto and Katsuya returned, the latter carrying a plate with a mountain of an omelet on it.

"Are you gonna eat all of that?!" Yugi wondered. He knew that his friend had an incredible appetite, but **this**…

"Sure, Yugi! Piece of cake!" Katsuya grinned before digging in. When his mouth was full, he paused and added: "Or piece of omelet, in this case."

His friend sweatdropped with a grin.

"Is there any coffee around here?" Seto asked hopefully.

Just then, a waiter was walking by, and he offered to bring him a cup.

"Lord, please let it be good…" Seto muttered when he received the beverage shortly thereafter. Carefully, he took a sip.

"How is it, Nii-sama?" Mokuba asked. Recently, he had started to drink coffee too, but by far not as much as his brother, and he preferred it with some milk and sugar instead of plain black.

A small smile came up on Seto's face. "Breakfast is saved," he answered.

"Wait a moment; is that all you're having?" Mai asked incredulously.

"Yes. I don't assume that it's a problem, is it?"

"But what about a fruit or something?"

"I'm fine."

Mai sighed, and Anzu told her: "Let it be; he can't be convinced otherwise. Jou has tried to do the same thing plenty of times, but to no avail, as you see…"

After breakfast, they split up: Mai and Anzu made a beeline for the beach while Ryou and Malik went to go look for their yamis, who apparently hadn't caused any trouble yet, judging by the still relaxed atmosphere. Noa and Mokuba ran off on their own, saying something about the pool, though the teal-haired Kaiba brother hinted that he might not go swimming to its full extent because of his lenses. Yugi, Yami, Seto and Katsuya, however, decided to go look around a bit before deciding where they would settle to spend the day. For the sake of peacefulness, they went different ways, though…

The path Seto and Katsuya chose led them to the pool after a while. On the way there, they were quite taken with the drastic change in their environment. According to the blond, Anzu would ecstatically be taking countless pictures of the hibiscus flowers – aside from her interest in astrology, the girl also had a flower fetish, just like Mai did too. As they passed another woman who couldn't quite conceal her admiration for one, the other or even both of them, Seto lightly took Katsuya's hand in his own. The way things were looking, they would either have to make it quite clear from the start that they really belonged to each other, or he would have to be on a sharp lookout for lascivious females (or males, even).

"Hey Seto, look!" Katsuya suddenly exclaimed excitedly, pointing.

A peacock had just come out of the bushes and now lingered for a moment in the middle of the path. Even though its tail feathers weren't describing the infamous peacock's fan, it sill looked very beautiful. And just like it was claimed to be, it had a rather cocky look about it as it slowly turned its head – it almost seemed as if it were making sure that everything was okay and that it was still the superior one in its surroundings.

"I hope it will do the trick with its tail feathers!"

"Don't push it, Katsuya…"

To the shorter one's disappointment, however, the peacock simply stalked off without even moving said feathers even a bit. Seto laughed quietly at the way the other's face fell.

"We'll be here for two weeks, puppy, I'm sure that it will grace us with that sight sometime."

"Yeah, I hope you're right… until then, I'll keep my eyes peeled for the PP."

"PP?" Seto asked as they continued on their way.

"Peacock patrol, of course."

Seto chuckled amusedly and tightened his grip a bit on the hand he was holding.

It wasn't long before they met another animal: the pool had only just come into view when a brown-white cat made its appearance. Apparently, it was quite used to guests, for it purred as it rubbed up against Katsuya's legs.

"Hey there, little guy! How are ya?" he asked, kneeling down as he carefully petted it. The purring became even louder as the cat nuzzled his hand. It even let the human pick it up. "Aw… look, Seto, isn't it just cute?"

"Yes, it is…"

"Wanna hold it too?"

The brunet shook his head. "Save it. I'm more of a puppy person anyway."

"If you say so… but feel it, the fur's so soft!"

"As is a certain puppy's 'fur' too, if you ask me," Seto said quietly and shortly tousled the blond hair.

Katsuya laughed, and something about that moment made Seto want nothing more than to kiss him senselessly, without any restraints whatsoever – and maybe even go back to the room while they were at it… These thoughts made him realize that it would be a miracle if he could wait for the night to come.

"Nii-sama! Jou! Hey!" a voice called, and they looked to see Mokuba standing in the water. Noa was standing at the edge of the pool as if he wasn't sure if he should go in as well. When he saw what was in Katsuya's arms, though, the water was probably the last thing on his mind just then.

"Look, another cat! May I hold it? Can I, please?" he cried out, hurrying to them.

"Sure! They must be pretty used to people…"

The cat was handed over, and it was all Noa could do to not squeeze it tightly because he was so delighted.

"I wanna hold it too!" Mokuba chimed in after getting out of the pool.

"No way! You're wet, and it's a common fact that nearly all cats hate water!" Noa protested, backing off a few steps.

"It barely reached over my waist!"

"But your arms are wet!"

"That can be helped!" Mokuba ran off to where he had deposited his towel. He certainly wouldn't give up that easily.

"It's just a cat!" Seto sighed, "Why get into an argument about it?"

"We can't help it! We don't have any pets, so what else do you expect us to do?" Noa answered. "And don't you dare make the excuse that we already have a puppy, if you know what I mean…"

Katsuya started laughing again as he petted the now very happy cat in Noa's arms – that was meant in a joking way and not to put him down, after all. Seto half-frowned as he watched them; he certainly had caught onto what was implied in that answer. Mokuba had always wanted a pet, but aside from a hamster that hadn't lasted for long, Seto had always managed to talk it out of him or had forestalled that purchase by other means. After Noa had joined the family, however, Mokuba had regained new motivation to revive that issue – and especially after Seto and Katsuya had gotten together and the blond had acquired his pet name "puppy", the two younger teens had dropped quite a few hints that they "wanted a pet too".

"There, I'm dry now! C'mon, Noa, let me hold it too!" Mokuba pleaded, dropping his towel after returning.

The other Kaiba brother still looked a bit unwilling to comply, yet he carefully passed the animal to Mokuba. While Seto absent-mindedly watched them, still pondering about the attempted project "purchasing a pet", Katsuya already spotted something else that caught his interest.

"Awesome, a bar in the pool; in the **water**, even! And there's a pool table too! This place is the bomb!"

At the words "pool table", Seto allowed himself to focus again, and now he too saw said table. It was on the other side of the pool, and where it was situated in a partially closed bungalow, it looked like a really pleasant place to hang out in the evening; a game could be played without oneself being forced to be totally exposed to the slightly breezy weather of the evening (they had faintly noticed that upon their arrival the other night). Seto guessed that if that pool table had been located in the seclusion of the mansion back in Japan, he might have considered using it for different purposes other than simply playing a game – and his adventurous mate surely would be willing to give it a try as well… but maybe they would even get around to trying it out here if an opportunity would come along… These fantasies were really getting to him, and now he was fairly sure that the night was too far away, he would never be able to wait that long.

"Seto's getting that look again," Noa muttered to Mokuba as they petted the cat.

"Jou will be in for it sooner or later," the raven-haired teen giggled.

Maybe so, but currently, Katsuya's excitement made it impossible for him to stay long enough in one spot for the CEO's liking. "Right, this is nice and all, but I gotta go to the beach now! Are you coming too, Seto?"

Knowing that the phrase "go to the beach" actually meant "go into the water" in this case, Seto shook his head and made a shooing gesture with his hand.

"You go on ahead, Katsuya. I'll… um… hang out with Mokuba and Noa a bit."

"Sure! You guys take it a bit easy with the swimming, okay?"

"Speak for yourself!" Noa reminded him.

"Yeah; you had more to eat than the three of us put together!" Mokuba added.

"Don't worry, I won't drown…"

"Remind me to teach him not to say things like that," Seto sighed as the other ambled off towards the beach.

"He's just joking, Seto."

"I know, but still…"

"Nii-sama, you're supposed to **relax**! And Anzu and the others are there too! It's such a shame you didn't dress properly to swim," Mokuba remarked as he gave the cat back to Noa since he aimed to get back into the pool again.

"Would somebody be so kind to give me an explanation why you all act as if we'll only be here for three days or likewise short?! There are two weeks left!"

"He's right, Mokie. But hey, at least he isn't just pulling the old stunt of sitting at the laptop and working," Noa pointed out.

"Kid, I'm very tempted to give your hairdo a major makeover for that comment," Seto said in a playfully threatening tone of voice.

"Sorry, kitty, but I gotta split… hope I'll see you again sometime, though!" Noa hastily said to the cat before setting it down again. He dodged when the tallest Kaiba brother lunged at him and saved himself from another attack by jumping into the water. When he resurfaced in safety, he took his time to wipe at his eyes a bit and slowly open them, just to make sure that the water hadn't somehow stolen his lenses.

"Cowards," Seto smirked as he stood there at the edge of the pool with his arms crossed.

"Brother, shall we show him how cowardly we supposedly are?" Mokuba grinned deviously.

"Yeah; after all, we can't get grounded or anything…"

"You wouldn't –" Seto began, seeing the look on their faces, but unfortunately missing the opportunity to step back.

They would – and they did. Mokuba and Noa used their hands to create two big splashes of water, both of which were aimed at Seto. And they hit their target squarely. In a second, the brunet was drenched with pool water from the waist down (he really could consider himself lucky to stand so tall).

"Bull's eye!" Mokuba and Noa cheered and gave each other a high-five.

"You little devils…!" Seto didn't sound upset, yet he spoke somewhat too unnervingly calm for the other two.

"Sorry, Nii-sama, but you called us cowards, so you started it… Truce?" Mokuba proposed, offering a wet hand.

"You don't honestly expect me to believe that I can trust this after getting a free shower, do you?" Seto asked skeptically.

"You're offering truce to a guy who called us 'little', in case you have already forgotten," Noa huffed.

"…Oh yeah!" A wily expression made its appearance. "Seto, if you don't run now and don't want us to bombard you with water again, you had better think of something you could do to make up for calling us 'little'," Mokuba declared.

"If you have any suggestions that don't involve me getting into this pool as well, I'll gladly listen," Seto retorted.

The others thought for a moment, then Mokuba pointed at his (waterproof) digital watch. "You could throw this to the deep end, and we'll see who can retrieve it first!"

"That would look like playing fetch. Mokuba, you don't think that you're a dog, do you?"

"It's just a game! And no, I could be a seal or a dolphin or whatever! What matters is that it's fun!"

"Noa, I don't believe this game would go well with the fact that you're wearing lenses."

"True… Mokie, couldn't we just play a game of pool or something?"

"Sure, why not? Seto, is that okay?"

"Us two against you!" Noa added.

"You don't stand the ghost of a chance," Seto said confidently.

"We'll see about that!" his brothers answered and hurriedly got out of the pool, eager to prove themselves…

* * *

Feedback is very, very welcome, as usual!

I'll do my best to get back to this as often as I can, but we're about to have exemplary tests at school, and the stuff I have to learn is towering up sky-high right now. Just a little warning so you won't think that I've died or something ;)

(1) I confess: I took that phrase from "Angels in the Outfield" (disclaim) - it just seemed to be so fitting for that moment...

(2) Believe me: such rides are adventurous. And sometimes I think that our streets are bumpy -.-;;

(3) It's true; I remember that it felt like a five-star-hotel to me (I think - I've never been to a five-star one before, but certainly in worse four-star ones). Then again, those evaluations are rather relative, like everything is as well, according to Einstein...

(4) As usual for such things: assuming that my research wasn't faulty, of course.

If there is anything you wish "to see" (except very graphic stuff _(wink)_), feel free to tell me! I'd appreciate additional suggestions I can add to my own ideas so I can really show that I care about you readers! :)

P.S: Um, I know this first day will be quite detailed, so please don't get startled when I suddenly might do a slight leap in time (not next chapter, though)...


	4. Chapter 4

Finally. This. Day. Is. Over. (We're talking about Monday here.) _(wail)_ Where oh where did the weekend go?! _(sigh)_ Bloody French test... it was the horror. The horror, I tell you. Posting this should hopefully not only be a reward for you readers, but for me as well - somehow, doing that just makes me feel better ;)

_(tears streaming down face)_ My God, the feedback I receive is just so incredible... so motivating, so praising...! I never would have thought to get feedback like that for this. I really hope I can keep it up! :) And now that I know that I'll drop out of college (and go to work in a library instead, don't worry, I know what I'm doing), I will give this story an even higher priority! _(pauses)_ Although... even now, I'm spending half the lessons scribbling on scrap paper, gathering ideas and writing more. XD

I admit that this chapter really is pretty darn long, but the alternative I had in mind would have only made the previous chapter a whole lot longer, so I did it like this...

/(...)/ - thoughts of a hikari

\(...)\ - thoughts of a yami

* * *

Around eleven, the three Kaiba brothers decided to go see what the others were up to and headed to the beach as well. Mokuba and Noa didn't hesitate for a single moment to go straight for the ocean, where most of the others were enjoying themselves in the waves. Seto watched Bakura resurface, looking as if he were miming to be Jaws or some other predatory marine creature. Katsuya happened to be the closest to him then, so the blond was dragged under.

"Watch your step…" Seto muttered, then turned back to those who hadn't joined in the wet fun.

Yami and Yugi had pushed their chairs together as close as possible, and they both lay on their backs, holding hands and letting the sun shine on them. For some reason, Seto found that they looked almost funny with big, dark sunglasses… They could be dozing, or perhaps their eyes were open, it was impossible to tell. Deciding that he could take the time to find out, Seto walked over to them and positioned himself in a way that he could be sure to get Yami's attention.

The Pharaoh frowned when a shadow was cast on his face. Irritably lowering his sunglasses a bit, he glared at Seto.

"Kaiba, you're in the way of my sunlight."

"Oh, so you own the sunlight now?"

"You know what I mean. Please move."

"And what if I don't want to? You'd have to give me something in return…"

'_Mustn't do Mind Crush, mustn't do Mind Crush…!'_ Yami told himself repeatedly.

/Yami, stay calm!/ Yugi's voice sounded out in his mind.

\Aibou, he's really starting to go too far…\

/But you've been expecting this; you said you'd undergo some mental preparation before we left. And I don't think Jou would be very happy if you'd do Mind Crush on Kaiba./

\Next time, I'll think up a meditation phrase…\

"Kaiba, I hardly think I need to give you something so you'll get out of my way."

"Nothing's for free in this world anymore."

"I know what you're after."

"Then just say yes so we can get it over with!" Seto urged him, leaning forward until Yami found that the almost maniacal glint of determination he saw in the blue eyes was way too close for comfort.

"May I remind you that I was the first to place demands concerning the conditions under which I would agree to duel you?" he asked.

The brunet stood straight again in a flash and snorted. "There's no way in hell I'm dancing ballet for **anybody**, Yami!"

"**Can** you dance ballet, Kaiba?" Yugi asked. It was impossible to tell whether that was really an innocent question or if it was just a disguise to hide that he already knew the answer. Whatever the case, the question caught Seto slightly off-guard.

"What the…?! I mean… oh… Geez, how am I supposed to know?!" He was close to spluttering, and the two look-alikes were royally amused; they wished they could capture this moment with a camcorder.

"Maybe you have hobbies nobody knows of. Maybe it's a dark secret of yours – a skeleton in your closet, if you prefer that expression," Yami laughed.

"I think you and the midget had sunstroke," Seto grumbled.

\Aibou, look, he's… pouting, almost?!\

/Oh my God, you're right! Oh Yami, **why** did you forget the camera in the room…?!/

\Slap me, I know it was a stupid thing to do!\

And so Seto watched in utter confusion as Yugi proceeded to give Yami a –…playful slap in the face. This only made the dark one laugh again, and he replied by starting to practically kiss the living daylights out of Yugi.

"Sunstroke indeed…" the CEO muttered and slowly inched away as if he were retreating from a rabid animal. He turned to Ryou, who was reading a book and also wearing sunglasses. The way things looked, the Briton was his last hope of being around a rational being at this point in time.

"What happened to you? You look as if you had gotten wet not too long ago…"

"Courtesy of Mokuba and Noa. I've decided to keep at least two meters of safety distance between me and them when they're in the pool," Seto answered as he sat down on the chair where he discovered that Katsuya had deposited his shirt and sunglasses.

"Um, Kaiba? Could you put on some sunglasses? I'm about to crack up because you look so funny when you squint…" Ryou giggled.

'_Easy now, Seto… you're just among a bunch of weirdos…'_ Nevertheless, he didn't want to be laughed at, so he grabbed Katsuya's sunglasses and put them on.

"Ah, that's better. So, what do you want to talk about?" Ryou inquired, laying down his book.

"I don't know. Say something intelligent," Seto suggested.

Ryou thought for a moment, then said: "Did you know that according to the theory of virtual water, it takes 140 liters of water until you get one cup of coffee?"

Apparently, Yami and Yugi had been listening too, for they exclaimed in unison: "No way!"

"Where did you learn **that**?" Seto asked.

"I heard it in the BBC news recently. That's food for thought, isn't it?" (1)

For a moment, nobody said anything, but their thoughts all wandered along similar lines: namely, that being the coffee-junkie that he was, Seto was using mind-boggling amounts of that "virtual water", according to that information…

"So… are you going to cut down on your coffee consumption?" Yugi wondered casually.

"Hell no!" Seto protested, "I **need** it!"

"And you've never suffered from an overdose of caffeine before?" Ryou marveled, more or less knowing in which dimensions Seto's coffee-consumption ranged.

"No."

"Maybe that's because you have coffee running through your veins instead of blood," Yami joked.

"Make a cut and go see, why don't you?" Seto retorted sarcastically.

"Back to what you said, Ryou… 140 liters?! I can imagine that that might raise a problem when water will become a very valuable resource in the future," Yugi remarked.

"Indeed. Kaiba, assuming that we would still be alive when it comes down to that, you will have no other choice but to reduce your daily dose of coffee. Maybe it couldn't even be called a **daily** dose anymore," Ryou said thoughtfully.

They didn't need to see his eyes to know that this piece of information horrified Seto. "In that case, I hope I'll be dead before that happens."

"Don't be silly; you could always switch to fruit juice, for example."

"Boring!" Seto said loudly. No, coffee had become a far too important part of his life for him to forfeit it.

"You must have a very narrow range of things that are really important to you if you're not willing to make that simple switch," Yami commented.

Seto thought about it. Maybe so, but what did he care? As long as he had what he held dear to him… Mokuba, Noa, his work, coffee, Katsuya, sex… Yes, those were the things that made his day and he hoped he would never have to give up. Before he could get lost in fantasies again, he returned to the present, where Ryou stretched out on his chair and sighed contently:

"Ah, this is the life! I definitely was in need of some relaxation! School is so stressing at the moment…"

"Not only that, though; if I'm not deceived, you also have a job **and** need to run the household **and** look out for the thief," Yami frowned.

Ryou waved his hand. "I've got it under control."

"But for how much longer? I mean, I don't wanna be all too pessimistic or something, but with all you have to do… I'm worried that you might get burnout. I read that it's happening more frequently these days," Yugi piped up.

"I'm fine, Yugi, thank you."

It was meant to sound reassuring, but all three of them knew that Ryou could do well with someone keeping an eye on him, just to be sure. Seto only knew about this because Katsuya had sometimes remarked that Ryou was awfully sleepy and could barely drag himself from class to class, not to mention to school in the first place. It was true that Ryou always had enough money to pay the rent for the apartment he shared with Bakura, although it was painfully obvious to both him and the gang that not everything came from his salary. Bakura claimed that he "did his share too", but naturally, one had to be skeptic about what he would consider "work".

"Are you sure, Ryou?"

Seto's question was rather surprising for them; they did know that the brunet had "warmed up" somewhat thanks to Katsuya and their relationship, yet he certainly wasn't known to ask such questions of concern.

Ryou didn't make any movement at all for a short moment, then he answered in his usual mild voice: "Sure, Kaiba. I would say so if I wasn't." He wasn't so sure if the others would believe him, but right now, he just didn't want to get into a talk about that particular subject. Instead, he gestured to the skies: "Say, do you guys see any forms in those clouds?"

His message got across, and the others looked up at the sky too. There were few clouds, but at least there were some at all.

"I'm not sure about **these**… but I once saw someone on horseback," Yugi suggested.

"What? How do you see that? I've never seen anything in a cloud," Seto replied and added with a shrug: "They're just a bunch of suspended water and ice particles." (2)

Yami gave him the alien stare, and Yugi and Ryou's sunglasses slid down their noses. The Pharaoh was the first to find his speech again: "For Ra's sake, Kaiba, there's a little thing called imagination that can be used for more than just sexual fantasies! I mean, I saw a dragon with an angel on its back once!"

"Was it a Blue Eyes?" Seto asked hopefully.

'_Figures,'_ Yami thought. "No, it was **not** a Blue Eyes…" Personally, he thought that it had vaguely resembled the dragon from "Dragonball".

"Let's teach Kaiba how to cloud-gaze!" Ryou suggested brightly.

"Yeah, let's!" Yugi agreed, "Look at that one over there, Kaiba! What does it look most like?"

"…Nothing I know…"

"Are you sure? And what about that one?"

"Aibou, there's a big one on the horizon…"

"Perfect!"

"I once saw a herd of horses in one of those big ones!" Ryou chirped.

'_Horses?! Dragons?! Angels?! Where?'_ Seto wondered, staring hard at the clouds. He had a feeling that by the time Katsuya would get back, he would have gained a new experience that he wouldn't have guessed to ever have in the first place…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Man, I love the ocean! It sure is different from swimming in the pool!" Katsuya said happily as they started to head back to the deckchairs.

"The only nuisance is that you get sand and seaweed in some really nasty places, if you know what I mean," Bakura muttered, plucking at his swimming trunks.

"TMI! TMI!" the others started to chant.

Bakura just grinned and stuck up his nose, and as they went to take a shower, they noticed that those who had stayed behind were deeply engaged in a discussion, scraps of which they heard after having finished with the showers.

"…no need for that, because then you know everything anyway." (Ryou)

"But if I already know everything, what's the point in having the ability to focus on someone long enough to know their thoughts?" (Seto)

"Why would you want to know everything at all? A little mystery is nice to think about, it's good for your imagination…" (Yugi)

"You obtained a new form of that, didn't you, Kaiba?" (Yami)

"What're you talking about?" Marik asked when they were all together again.

"This and that… we started with coffee, then went on to clouds and now we're at the subject of the afterlife," Ryou answered.

"Some golden thread that is…" Malik remarked with a headshake.

"Well, well, look who has made himself comfortable in my place," Katsuya laughed and blocked the sunlight like Seto had done to Yami before.

"I figured that the puppy might want to see his master when he gets back," Seto purred, lowering the sunglasses a bit and driving Katsuya half-wild in the fraction of a second with that pointed look in his blue eyes. Before he could get a reply, he took hold of the other's face and pulled him close for a passionate kiss. The blond moaned into the kiss and grasped Seto's shirt as he let himself come to rest on the CEO's upper body.

"Whoa, Blondie, I think you're gonna need to hit the showers again, but cold this time!" Bakura whistled as he sat down next to Ryou, who gave the Sennen Ring back to him.

"And remember, we wanted to go have lunch now," Mai reminded him.

Seto drew back just a bit and breathed: "Puppy, you're not hungry, are you?"

Katsuya blushed a bit and smiled. "Sorry, Seto, but I am. I'm starving, in fact…"

"That's not fair… not when I want you so much…"

"Hmm… how about if we just grab a quick bite to eat, okay? It doesn't have to be much for a change, but I need **something** –"

"Deal," Seto agreed instantly.

"Careful, Jou, or your husband might think you love food more than him," Anzu teased.

"Ha! I could say the same thing about him and coffee!"

"The beginning of your golden thread…" Noa grinned.

By the time they had reached the dining place once more, they had exchanged their own individual experiences with cloud-gazing, and as long as Seto and Katsuya were around, a plan was made for the afternoon.

"We met some other guests on the beach; they said that at low tide, one can walk on the reefs and see fish and other sea creatures," Anzu explained.

"No sharks, though," Bakura and Marik said disappointedly, repeating what Anzu had told them after they had voiced their hopes on what they might see. The others sweatdropped.

"Are you coming too?" Mokuba asked.

"Possibly… it depends on when you plan to go." Beneath the table, Seto was lightly and teasingly running his fingers over Katsuya's thigh, taking care not to let the still damp trunks get in his way of skin contact – this was partially the reason why the other was eating even less than he had planned to.

"I suppose most of us will want to make a quick detour to their rooms – I want to get my camera, for instance – and then we'll meet at the deckchairs in fifteen minutes or so and go."

"We'll see," the elder told him and stood up. "Come now, puppy."

"Grab a few buns so I can have something later on, okay?" Katsuya hurriedly whispered to Noa before he was unceremoniously dragged away by Seto.

"Ooh, they're bringing it on!" Bakura and Marik snickered, waggling their eyebrows suggestively.

"Here we go again," Mokuba sighed, figuring that he could soon claim that "we'll see" was his brother's catch phrase. When Noa suddenly took off his shirt, he stared. "What are you doing?"

"Jou said he would want some buns later on, but there's a sign that says 'Don't take food to your room', so I need to smuggle them out somehow."

Mokuba remembered Seto's comment about how their brother might become a criminal and hoped that the fact that said brother was (almost) stealing wouldn't be the beginning of a criminal career that might eventually lead straight to juvenile hall…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Since they figured that there would be more than enough time to drive each other wild (and because Anzu's elaboration of the afternoon's plan had sounded quite appealing to one of them in particular), Seto and Katsuya headed for the arranged meeting point soon after having had it away. To not only **their** surprise, they weren't even the last ones to show up.

"Damn, how fast **are** you guys?!" Malik asked, surprised.

"Indeed, that must have been rather quick," Yami agreed.

"But some of us had dessert, so we ate longer than we usually would," Yugi argued.

"Still…"

"It's solely a question of plans and technique," Seto interrupted, "End of subject."

"Hope it was good, at least," Marik muttered. He caught Katsuya's eye, and the blond mouthed:

"_You bet."_

"Anzu and Mai should be here soon…" Mokuba remarked, reconsidering the time.

"We have other problems right now," Noa reminded him, and Seto and Katsuya saw what he meant by that:

Bakura appeared to be boiling or bristling with something that looked like anger plus the deep-running desire for vengeance. He kept balling his hands to fists, then relaxing them again. He looked at least twice as insane as usual. Ryou was keeping a watchful eye on him.

"O-**kay**… what's up with Bakura?"

"Remember the kid on the plane, the one who pulled his hair?" Mokuba asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, apparently he's staying at this hotel too."

Katsuya whistled, and Seto quipped: "Well, they do say it's a small world…"

"Maybe so, but Bakura's wrath is very fresh – we found this out just three or four minutes ago when the kid went past us."

"The pool… it's perfect… No, maybe I could drop a coconut from a palm tree right on that runt's head… or Marik could brain-wash a monkey or something to do my bidding…" Bakura was mumbling.

"Bakura, he's just a kid. And I hate to put it so bluntly, but you sort of deserved it. After all, you lied to him," Ryou tried to reason with him.

"That little fucker grinned at me as if he thought he's better than me! Don't deny it, Hikari: you saw it too!" Bakura snarled.

"Honestly!" the Briton scolded, displeased by that very crude name Bakura had called the boy. Admittedly; he couldn't deny that the kid had definitely remembered the albino upon walking by a few minutes ago, but he didn't think that it qualified as a reason to use the word "fucker".

"Ryou, give me the Ring, by Ra!"

"No," Ryou disagreed, pointedly holding the Ring away, "I will not let you send that child to the Shadow Realm or do something equally horrible. Get over it, Bakura."

The reply to this was a tirade of words the others didn't understand (except Marik and Malik, who gave each other a look that strongly suggested that whatever was being said wasn't something nice) – presumably Egyptian. When the tomb robber's voice subsided to a sullen mutter and he stared at the grass as if it were the target of his wrath, Noa tapped Marik on the shoulder.

"What did he say? You understood, right?"

"Yeah, I did, but I don't think the Priest would be very happy if I'd translate," Malik's yami answered while stealing a glance at Seto, who sure enough had a warning look on his face since he thought it was bad enough that Mokuba had said something like "Ra dammit".

"Oh, but maybe one of the things that wasn't quite **that** nasty!" Noa insisted hopefully.

"I don't know what **your** standards of 'nasty' are, but all of that probably exceeded your bro's." Though he added in a whisper: "Maybe later, when he's… shall we say, **occupied** with something else…"

"Bad influence, **bad** influence…" Seto barely moved his lips as he said this, keeping a watchful eye on his two brothers.

"Seto, relax. He's our friend!" Katsuya quietly scolded.

"And a member of the Psycho Duo."

"I hate to put it like this, but you just won't be able to watch them forever…"

Seto didn't reply, but his frown spoke for itself.

"What is this? Two grumpy faces, and the first day isn't anywhere near over yet? My, my…" a female voice suddenly remarked, signaling Anzu's arrival.

"One more comment like that and you're dead, Mazaki!" Bakura growled.

"You're taking this too far!" Malik reprimanded him, "She didn't do anything bad to you!"

"Not **here**; but on the plane, she did…"

"Is he always this resentful?" Mai wondered, raising an eyebrow at the thief.

"Have men disappointed you?" Ryou asked instead. The blonde woman pursed her lips and raised her other eyebrow as well. Her question definitely was answered now.

Following Anzu's lead, they sauntered down to the beach. She pointed to what appeared to be a rocky stretch within the water, a stretch that hadn't been visible earlier that day.

"Cheer up, my friend; let's go find something weird!" Marik said brightly, clapping Bakura on the shoulder.

"I could definitely do with that right now," the other muttered.

"Maybe it would even be… dangerous, and/or pointy… something like that!" Marik continued.

Now Bakura's eyes lit up noticeably. "I like the sound of **that**!"

"C'mon!"

They quickened their pace, eagerly discussing what they hoped to find (aside from the sharks which they knew wouldn't be there). The others took it a bit easier as they roamed in this quite different environment: straight ahead and behind them, the beach with its almost white, soft sand reached for as far as they could see. Where the waves now softly washed upon the shore, the darker sand was practically littered with shells in places. Every now and then, holes could be spotted in the sand; they indicated that crabs had dug themselves in there. Where the water was shallow, dark patches of seaweed could clearly be seen floating on the surface, though one couldn't tell what might be hidden in the sand beneath it. And although the sun was still shining brightly, the cool wind prevented oneself from feeling all too hot. Sometimes, when it blew a bit stronger, people would stretch out their arms to enjoy it even more, making no secret of their pleasure.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Seto asked when they reached the spot where they would be able to cross onto the reef. He raised his eyebrow in skepticism when he saw exactly how far away from the shore they would go with water all around them.

"Sure I'm sure," Anzu told him encouragingly, "We've got almost two hours until it'll be high tide – I made an extra detour to find out about that. It's more than enough time."

"Hopefully so; I haven't exactly planned to get dashed against a bunch of rocks anytime soon," the CEO muttered as he followed Katsuya, whose eagerness had taken over everything else.

"You're kinda paranoid!" Mai laughed.

"I'm being **careful**; paranoid is something else."

"Whatever you say…"

The exploration of the reef was a quite adventurous experience. All around, there were what looked like puddles in the rocky ground, and those contained exactly what the other guests had mentioned: different plants, fish, crustaceans and various other forms of marine life. Mokuba had brought along his camera to capture one or another finding on film.

"Jou, look, there's a starfish!" Ryou exclaimed, pointing.

"Ah, that's a pretty one!" Katsuya replied, observing the creature's red patterns on its grey body as it let the ends of its arms drift along with the water's movement, "Suppose I could fish it out for a better look?"

"No, let it be. Would **you** like it if someone would suddenly pick you up, tearing you away from your habitat?"

The blond considered this for a moment, then answered: "If they'd put me back, I wouldn't mind so much."

"I daresay that the starfish would beg to differ," Ryou commented and stood up again.

"If only we could speak starfish-ish or whatever it's called so we could ask it…"

"Great, I'm married to someone who wants to talk to **fish**, of all creatures," Seto sighed as he picked his way, not making one step too quickly.

"Hey, I bet they'd have some interesting things to say!" Katsuya protested, overtaking the brunet in two or three steps because he paid far less attention to where he was setting foot, "Maybe they make jokes about fishermen or something! Ah, speaking of jokes," (Seto groaned – jokes weren't necessarily things that meant an awful lot to him) "picture this: two fish are at the surface and talking. Suddenly, it starts to rain. Then one fish says to the other: 'Oh my God, let's dive under, otherwise we'll get wet!'"

Yugi and Yami were right behind them, and the former started giggling madly while Yami leaned against his lighter half for support as he laughed out loud. Anzu and Mai were cracking up as well. Katsuya grinned goofily, and Seto simply watched them with wide eyes.

"C'mon, Kaiba, even **you** had to find that funny!" Yami gasped.

"Unless your logic reasoning got in the way again," Katsuya added.

"…Would you be mad if you were right?" Seto asked nonchalantly.

He got an honest smile plus a headshake for that comment. "Nah. Who **doesn't** like being right? And it's not as if I seriously thought that you'd laugh."

Seto shrugged. "Also, it's not as if you don't have enough humor for the both of us."

While Katsuya made the victory sign, the others brought their laughter to an end, then they continued the expedition.

"Nii-sama! Nii-sama! I've got something for you!" Mokuba cried as he ran to his brother, both his hands clasped over something.

"It's not something gross, though, is it?"

The teen looked appalled. "When did I ever give something gross to you?"

The blue-eyed billionaire narrowed his eyes as if that said everything already – and to those who knew the story, it did.

_(flashback)_

_On a sunny summer day, Seto was sitting on the couch and reading a thriller. For a change, he wasn't thinking about business or dueling in any way and was solely interested in reading about the murder of the century while Katsuya was getting him a glass of orange juice. _

_Just then, Mokuba came rushing into the living room, sounding like a herd of elephants. He was closely followed by Noa, who was clutching a camera and thoroughly enjoying his first summer in the real world._

_"Nii-sama, I've got a surprise for you!"_

_Despite some slight irritation over being distracted from his enthralling lecture – oh, the suspense was killing him! – Seto lowered the book and looked at his brother, whose eyes were practically shining with excitement._

_"What, Mokie?"_

_"It's a surprise! Close your eyes and hold out your hands!"_

_Seto shook his head a bit; although his sibling was really a teenager now, he still had those distinctively childish moments… In complete trust, he closed his eyes and held out his hands._

_Mokuba nodded excitedly at Noa, who held up the camera and was ready for the moment to press the shutter release button. It was just then that Katsuya re-entered the room with a glass full of juice in one hand._

_"What's going on?" he asked, wondering why on earth Seto was holding out his hands like a blind man begging for money._

_"Nii-sama is getting a surprise! Watch!" Mokuba said, "Alright, here goes…" He placed the object he had been concealing all this time on the elder's palms and bounced back a step._

_Seto flinched at the weird feeling of the unknown thing in his hands, and his blue eyes flew open to observe his surprise. To his horror, he was looking at a (for his taste) way too big toad, complete with the warty skin and everything. When the human established eye contact with it, the amphibian puffed out its throat and croaked loudly, as if demanding to be put back down on the ground this instant._

_Just before that noise was made, Noa felt how Mokuba elbowed him urgently, and the teal-haired Kaiba brother pressed the shutter release button. There was no flash of light, but he didn't give it much thought, for the sight that met their eyes was far too distracting: Seto yelled bloody murder and disgustedly flung away the toad. While doing so, he also scrambled backwards to put additional distance between him and the "surprise" – and the press would have had an ultimate field day if they had been present too, for that was the moment when Seto managed to topple over the back of the couch, landing on the floor rear-end-first with a thud and a curse._

_Screams of laughter filled the room. Katsuya doubled over and spilled the juice all over his feet, though this made him laugh even harder. Mokuba was flat on his back, clutching his sides, and Noa barely managed to stay halfway upright._

_"That was __**not**__ funny!" Seto shouted as he got back to his feet again. A crimson hue adorned his cheeks, and his eyes were blazing. "Where is that thing?!"_

_The innocent toad croaked yet again and hurriedly hopped off to where it smelled fresh air._

_"Out! Get out or I'll help you along!" the CEO bellowed, reaching for his book and looking as if he was seriously about to swat the creature and boot it right outside in the process. It was making quick progress on its own, however._

_Katsuya somehow managed to get a grip well enough to notice that Seto's rage which had been born out of embarrassment might lead to a (perhaps unintentional?) threat to the toad's very life, so he set the now empty glass down and miraculously got to their croaking friend before the brunet did and snatched it up. But he almost dropped it because he got into another laughing fit when Seto exclaimed:_

_"Yuck; don't touch it, Katsuya! That's __**gross**__!"_

_Hearing that last word from Seto of all people made Mokuba abandon his plan to get up at least on all fours again, and Noa dropped to his knees, wheezing with laughter as once more, Seto demanded to dispose of the amphibian._

_Amidst laughter, Katsuya practically staggered to the door that led to the garden and carefully put the toad down in the grass, where it began the journey back to the pond where it lived._

_Seeing that the house was toad-free again (hopefully), Seto focused on catching his breath, yet when he turned to his brothers, he looked like a bull facing two matadors in an arena – __**laughing**__ matadors, in this case. And minus the red cloth, but armed with a camera instead._

_"Did you… did you capture that?" Mokuba gasped. His sides hurt as if he had been stabbed with a knife, but in his opinion, it was worth it._

_"I-I think so…" Noa replied._

_"What d'you mean, you __**think**__ so…?!"_

_"Mokuba. Explain yourself."_

_The raven-haired teen looked up from where he was lying on the floor to see Seto looming over him with such a meaningful glance that he doubted he would get out of this unscathed. _

_"It's… it's summertime, Nii-sama. I thought you might want to know what's living in our backyard; and besides, frogs and toads are our **friends**." _(3)_  
_

_"…If I should ever find that I need a heart attack for whatever crazy reason, I know who to call…"_

_Mokuba grinned with relief, sensing that his brother had gotten over the worst shock. The shame was another issue, though:_

_"Um, Mokie? I think I made a movie instead of a photo," Noa suddenly said after having inspected the camera in the meantime._

_Seto's pink cheeks turned red again, and he tried to make a grab for the camera._

_"Jou, catch!" Noa reacted instantly and tossed the device to Katsuya, who had just gotten to his feet again._

_"This is not over yet!" Without even pausing, Seto rounded on the blond, who whooped and ran out into the garden, where he soon looked as if he were playing an odd game of basketball with his lover. Mokuba and Noa watched this amusedly for a while before offering to take the camera back. Katsuya handed it over by means of a well-aimed throw, but a moment later, he found himself lying spread-eagled in the lawn with Seto on top of him._

_"Um, in case you haven't noticed, I don't have the camera anymore…" he panted, feeling how the taller boy's breaths tickled his skin._

_"I know, puppy. Let's just say that my interests shifted rather suddenly," Seto replied with that sly smirk he usually got in such situations, "You'll have to pay me to get off."_

_"In dollars or in yen?" Katsuya teased._

_"Neither," Seto whispered before claiming the other's lips in a demanding, passion-laced kiss. Apparently, he had all too willingly chosen to forget that the same young man had actually been holding a "gross" toad not so long ago._

_Mokuba looked at Noa. "Let's go save this film on hard disk."_

_"And give it insurmountable password protection," the other boy agreed._

_Grinning, they went back into the house to do just that while leaving Katsuya at the "mercy" of Seto's sudden surge of desire…_

_(end flashback)_

"This is interesting – something grossed Kaiba out? Like what?" Yami asked gleefully, bearing a rather startling resemblance to Bakura just then.

"Not. A. Word," Seto warned his brothers and Katsuya, who were clearly still basking in that particular memory which was indeed stored on a computer's hard drive back at home so they could watch it over and over again…

The raven-haired one of the three suppressed a snicker, then held out his hands. "Trust me, Seto. Just close your eyes and stop being such a worrywart!" Needless to say, he was the only one – and truly the **only** one – who was allowed to use expressions like that when referring to his brother.

With an irritated sigh, Seto closed his eyes, placed one hand on his hip and held out the other demandingly. "I swear, Mokuba, if you're tricking me…!"

"I'm **not**! Sheesh…" He carefully put whatever he had been holding onto Seto's palm, but before revealing it, he nodded to Noa, who readied the camera. "Alright, Nii-sama, now you can look!" And he took a step back.

At first, Seto opened one eye just a bit; then the other opened as well, and he blinked. Sitting on his palm was a small sea urchin. Its little body was very dark, and its spines were almost lilac with pinkish tips. They weren't all too sharp, so it was painless to hold it.

"Oh, isn't that just **kawaii**?!" Mai squealed, "It's probably just a baby!"

"And even if it isn't, who cares?" Anzu agreed, looking equally delighted.

"See, Nii-sama? I told you I wasn't lying!" Mokuba grinned.

"We're your friends – more than that, in fact!" Noa added brightly before taking a picture (not a movie this time).

"It'll take more than this to stop making me become skeptic when you tell me that you've 'got something for me'," Seto retorted.

"Maybe, but what do you usually say in such situations? Oh yes: it's a start," Mokuba said importantly, raising a finger.

"And here I was, thinking that I had varied speech…"

Katsuya gladly took the little urchin that was offered to him like an exquisite dish presented by a waiter, and Mai and Anzu moved over to huddle around the blond's hand, totally engrossed with the sea creature.

"Ow! Ow! Haha, this is great!"

"Ouch! I dare you to pick it up!"

The Kaiba brothers turned around to see Bakura and Marik kneeling and reaching into a puddle. Malik was peering interestedly over his yami's shoulder while Ryou was occupied otherwise, casually strolling around and apparently entirely content with exploring this little world on his own – and in this case, that was probably the best for both him and Bakura.

"Hey Noa! C'mon over here and check this out!" Marik called.

"On my way!"

"Oh no…" Seto remarked as his brother ran off, "This cannot be good…"

"You're prejudiced!" Mokuba laughed.

"And you're impartial."

"Do you really want to argue about that again?" his sibling asked challengingly as he pretended to amble over to the "Psycho Duo" without even noticing it.

"Not necessarily. Last time that happened, a laptop met a most horrid death," Seto mused, automatically following the younger one.

"And your poor face ached from laughing so much," Mokuba grinned.

"Indeed…" The brunet traced his jawbone as he remembered that incident, which was yet another addition to their collection of "Kaiba brother quarrels"; most of those ended in a tickling fight or something else that really couldn't be associated with an argument.

"How about this one? A real beauty, it is!" Bakura spoke and held out his hands to Noa.

By now, the other two were close enough that they fully switched their attention to the situation: perched on Bakura's palms was a sea urchin, but it was much different from the one Seto had been holding a few minutes ago: it was entirely black, and its spines were not only a lot longer than the other one's, but also very pointy. They appeared to be lightly digging themselves into the thief's hands, and if one looked closely enough, it even was evident that the spines were moving towards where they were having contact with another body (at least, as far as they could). Bakura looked overjoyed, as did the two Ishtars too.

"Doesn't that **hurt**?" Mokuba exclaimed as Noa hesitated briefly whether or not he should accept that "gift".

"Of course it does; that's what gives you the thrill!" the albino explained.

"Pain for pleasure!" Marik beamed.

_'Freaks!' _Seto's mind screamed, and externally, he scowled.

"…Alright, I'll take it – but only if you give it very carefully to me. Don't drop it on my palms or anything," Noa complied, cupping his hands to prepare for the urchin.

"Okay…" Bakura sounded like a salesman whose customer had just made a bad decision. "But you're the one who will miss that delightful, prickling feeling when those lovely spines softly penetrate your skin…" He gazed almost fondly at the creature in his hands as he slowly passed it to the teal-haired Kaiba brother.

"I can't believe you're doing this, Noa," Seto remarked dryly, resisting the urge to snort at Bakura's pain eulogy.

"Hey, where in Japan would I be able to have a similar experience? And it's not as if it will bite me, so…" Noa's voice trailed off, and then he sucked in his breath when the black ball of spines came to rest in his hands. Fascinated, he watched as the spines swayed in the breeze; those in the lower regions tried to join their lowest comrades in "exploring" the new surface they were on.

"Well?" Mokuba asked, bending down until his face was at the same level as his brother's, "How is it?"

"It's neat, Mokie! Don't you want to hold it as well?"

"I dunno… how about if I take a picture of you first?"

"Good idea!"

The black-haired teen removed the camera from its position around Noa's neck before prompting him: "Say cheese!"

"Cheese!"

_Click._

"That has got to be the dumbest thing you can say when you get your picture taken! Why the hell do you say **cheese**? Is that some special custom of mortals?" Bakura asked.

"It's because it makes you smile or at least display your teeth when you say the 'e'. Of course, **your** picture can't serve as proof for that –" Seto began.

"Look who's talking!" the two ex-spirits cut him off with identical crazy grins.

"It seems to me like you've hit the jackpot, tomb robber," Yami said as he suddenly appeared at Seto's side, as usual accompanied by Yugi.

"Big time, Pharaoh. Imagine what marvelous ammunition these babies would make," Bakura snickered, plunging his hand into the water and half-stifling a cackle when spines pierced him anew.

"Only you could come up with a concept like that."

"Thank you," Ryou's yami replied, once again feeling complimented by what might have been an insult to others, "So, fancy a game of catch?"

"You're crazy if you think I do," Yami said quickly as he watched another sea urchin leave its watery home, its spines digging deeper into Bakura's hands as he had a tighter grip on it. Especially at the fingertips, a few drops of blood oozed out.

"What are you afraid of? That we'd throw it right into your eye?" Marik chimed in. He too looked like a pitcher who was about to throw a ball that would be illegal in any ball game. Malik put a hand on the other Egyptian's shoulder, watching the scene apprehensively yet not giving the impression that he would interfere if the worst were to come; after all, he was the "wild card" among the three hikaris.

"Noa, Mokuba…" Seto began.

Knowing that tone of voice without needing any further prompts, the two teens retreated after Noa carefully put the urchin he was still holding back into the water (and admiring the little dents in his palms as he followed Mokuba).

"Bakura, Marik, if you do that, I swear I'll perform Mind Crush on you!" Yami growled as he inched over until he was standing protectively in front of Yugi, who was looking very worried.

"Yami…"

"Don't worry, aibou."

It was hard to tell what would have happened if Ryou hadn't stepped in just then:

"Bakura! What are you doing with that sea urchin?!"

"Planning to throw it at the Pharaoh," Bakura answered with as much innocence as he could muster.

"That not nice at all, to put it mildly!"

"I'm not a nice guy!"

"That's still no excuse to throw a sea urchin at somebody! Please, put it down before you'll hurt it – I see that it's already too late for **you**…"

"But I –"

A cry of pain interrupted Bakura's response, and they all looked to see what the cause was.

"Mai!"

"Oh God, are you alright?!"

Mai had bent over after recoiling from one of the little ponds. She was clutching her right hand, and Katsuya and Anzu were gathered around her. Wondering what had happened, Noa and Mokuba hastily hurried over, closely followed by the others (except Bakura and Marik, who had to put their "newfound ammunition" back where it belonged).

"What's going on?" Mokuba asked worriedly, coming to a stop next to Katsuya.

"She tried to fish Mr. Spike out of the water, and it must have stung her," the blond answered, trying to pry Mai's other hand away.

Noa peered into the water and remarked: "Wow, that's a beautiful one!"

"I know!" Mai said in a clenched voice and breathed in audibly, "That's why I wanted to get a better look at it!"

"So it's a bit of pain – what else did you think you'd get when you pick one of those up?" Marik asked, frankly surprised that she had even attempted to handle those creatures like he and Bakura did so voluntarily.

"Wait a moment… this is weird! Look, your fingers are blue and green!" Anzu exclaimed in dismay after managing to inspect her girlfriend's right hand more intently.

Bakura and Marik looked their own hands over – but they were merely bloody in some places and certainly not bluish-green.

"D'you wanna go back to the hotel, Mai?" Katsuya asked concernedly.

"You think I should?"

"…Yeah."

"O-Okay, I'll go back…"

"I'm coming with you," Anzu volunteered and put an arm around the other woman. She reminded the others about the time, then they walked off.

"Let's finish what she started!" Bakura suggested.

"Kura, no! Didn't you see her fingers?! You can't seriously want yours to look like that too, even if you really don't mind pain so much!" Ryou protested.

"Don't wet yourself, Hikari… I'll use my shirt, if that will make you feel better," the ex-spirit drawled, and when Ryou nodded nervously, he removed said shirt and paused for a moment before almost purring: "Ah, this feels great…!"

"Yeah, yeah, we can see that you're sexy; now get on with it!" Marik snickered, elbowing his friend.

"If it weren't such a girly thing to do, I'd admire my nails right now…"

Ryou slapped a hand against his forehead while Malik burst out laughing, eliciting a few chuckles from some of the others too. Grinning smugly, Bakura proceeded to fish the apparently dangerous sea urchin out of the water.

"This calls for a close-up!" Mokuba marveled and took a good picture of that fascinating specimen: its spines were dark brown with a tinge of red, as was its body too, except that it had a star-like pattern on it that seemed to glow in a gaudy red. Along the edges of that pattern were little blue spots, just like the eyes on a scallop.

"Maybe it's one of those 'beautiful but poisonous' beings," Noa said thoughtfully.

"Poisonous?!" Katsuya repeated in dismay.

"That would explain why her fingers turned green-blue unlike Bakura and Marik's… I didn't mean to worry you, Jou."

The other muttered something nobody understood, and Seto lightly patted him on the shoulder in silent reassurance.

Deciding that the urchin had dealt with them long enough and vice versa, Ryou asked Bakura to leave it in peace, and after the echinoderm was back in its familiar surroundings, they ambled around on the reef for almost an hour, finding more sea urchins and some small tropical fish here and there. Yugi even found a whitish crab, which made him happy as a king (and providing another photo op for Mokuba).

It was sheer coincidence that Ryou had only just started to act fidgety and wonder about the time when Anzu called out to them from the beach:

"Hey guys! They're having tea and cake now!"

"Tea?!" Ryou exclaimed enthusiastically, visibly brightening.

"Cake!" almost all the others whooped, and Anzu could practically picture the infamous cloud of dust behind them as she watched them flock towards her like a bunch of Road Runners…

* * *

(1) Um... Let's just say that Ryou can watch TV via the internet... and it really is food for thought, don't you agree?

(2) I simply couldn't resist... as I wrote that part, I remembered that quote from Calvin and Hobbes (the next sentence is: Everyone hates a literalist.), and somehow I just thought that it would suit Seto well for that moment... so please don't sue me!

(3) They are! After all, they eat those nasty mosquitoes and pesky flies...

Whew, you made it through the chapter! I'm aiming for the next one to be shorter (6,000 - 6,500 words or so), just so you won't be wondering whether I forgot half of it. Even so, I think they're long enough ;)

Well, hope you liked it, and see you with the next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

_(sigh)_ Now it's official: my old computer is history, enter my laptop. Still... R.I.P., PC, you worked fine for me until the end when it took me almost a dozen tries to start you up... Upon transferring data to the laptop, I realized that I had forgotten to store my Internet favorites on my backup hard drive - and I almost broke down for a moment! Luckily, Dad hadn't thrown away the PC yet, so I booted it up one last time. Ye Gods, it chills me to imagine that I would have had to go look for all those ca. 100 YGO links I had saved again... _(shudders)_ But now that stress and the school stress are more or less over, so I can finally get back to writing a bit more!

And now... chapter 5! Sorry it's not as funny as the last one, but I'm not a machine that can make every chapter just as funny as the previous one. I know there are people who somehow can, but... I just felt like apologizing. That's just me. And now, I hope you'll have fun anyway! :)

* * *

"Hey Mai, how are you? Feeling better?" Katsuya asked as he sat down beside her with a rather generous amount of cake on his plate.

"Pretty good, honey, thanks for asking. It has happened to other people too, but with some ointment, it's quite okay again." She showed him her hand, which looked quite normal once more. "We asked a few people here, and it turned out that that spikeball was poisonous." (1)

"Noise!" Bakura and Marik had heard that. "This place is a treasure cove!"

"Hopefully it will stay that way, even with you guys around," Yami mumbled before sipping his tea, clearly showing which one of them had "adapted" the best by not holding his cup in what Ryou called the "barbarian grip" like Bakura and Marik did. The white-haired hikari wearily took notice of this fact and sighed into his teacup.

"So, what are the further plans?" Malik asked, licking his lips pleasurably to not miss any crumbs that stuck to them.

"Didn't you say it would be high tide soon, Mazaki?" Bakura asked.

"I did; in about… twenty minutes or so," Anzu answered after a short glance a nearby clock.

"In that case, **I'm** going back to the ocean!"

"Me too!"

"Me three!"

"You're awfully fond of the water, puppy…" Seto said with a small smile.

"Hey, this **is** the ocean, after all – you gotta check it out too, it's so warm! And high tide sounds very exciting!" Katsuya replied.

"Some other time." In a whisper, he added: "Perhaps at midnight, hmm?"

"Ah… why not? Sounds like fun…"

"It could also be more than just fun, if you want," Seto suggested with yet another one of his sly smirks.

"Now you're talking!" Katsuya grinned before starting to lick the tips of his fingers to make sure that he missed not the tiniest bit of the cake. Seto watched this action interestedly until:

"Surf's up, Blondie! C'mon, it's not gonna wait for us!"

"Let the puppy off his leash, Priest, we'll take good care of him!"

Seto glared at the two yamis. "Nobody calls him 'puppy' except **me**! Do I make myself clear?!"

"Crystal clear." They both saluted him like two soldiers, though nobody doubted that it was a purely sarcastic gesture.

Seto growled in the back of his throat and got a very specific expression on his face. Katsuya hurriedly swallowed the cake in his mouth before laughter overcame him.

"You look so c– I mean, **funny** when you pout!" It was in moments like these when he really wished that Seto would approve an occasional usage of the adjective "cute" when referring to him…

"I'm **not** pouting!"

"**Sure** you're not!" the blond snickered.

"Seriously, I'm not!"

"Yeah, and Bakura will be the next pope, I suppose?"

Actually rendered speechless by this comment, Seto stared at him. When he received the customary kiss on the cheek in such situations, he shook his head. "You and your crazy ideas, Katsuya…"

"Blondie! Get a move on, or we'll come and get your ass!"

"Coming!" Katsuya winked at Seto, then jumped up and joined the other two, who raced him to the beach.

"Bakura as the pope… something sounds awfully wrong about that," Anzu said and sweatdropped.

"God forbid!" Ryou winced, quickly shaking his head as his mind obviously tortured him with a detailed image of what bore great resemblance with the Apocalypse.

"He'd declare that anarchy is the only proper lifestyle," Mokuba guessed.

"It would be sentencing the entire globe to death," Yami snorted.

"And Marik would be right at his side, planning their next rampage," Malik said with a snicker.

"I wonder what it would be like if everyone would be allowed to live their lives exactly how they want to, spared of any rules or anything…" Noa glanced skywards as he worked his imagination.

"Kid, your attitude is taking some unpleasant turns," his older brother told him.

"A little imagination has never hurt anybody, Seto."

"Then let it **stay** imagination…"

As a group, they decided to watch the spectacle called high tide from the deckchairs, discussing the horrendous effects a papal Bakura plus his right-hand man Marik would bring upon the world as they went; once they were there, however, Yami and Yugi spontaneously decided that they might go for a jump in the waves too.

"You know what they say, Yami: keep your head above the water!" Seto smirked when he got wind of that plan, "So of course that means that you won't be going out all that far…"

"At least I **am** going at all, Kaiba," Yami retorted smoothly and followed his aibou to the steps that led to the beach.

"If I weren't dressed so inappropriately, I'd dare him to follow me for as long as he can stand," Seto grumbled, crossing his arms as he watched them darkly.

"High tide won't last for only ten minutes, you know," Mai advised him.

"We're going to be here for two weeks – that's more than enough time that I need to finally obtain a victory over him," was all Seto said in reply, though he added in his thoughts: _'I really hope so…'_

Being the wielder of the camera, Mokuba decided to film the action in the ocean, which was quite amusing material: shouts of "Man against nature! Yaaaah!" were carried to them by the wind, and neither Bakura nor Marik could suppress gleeful cackles when they saw that the Pharaoh was about to join them; Yami was soon engaged in a flat-out war against both the yamis plus the quite high waves, and Mokuba made sure to capture at least one of the wisps of amusement that danced across Seto's face when one of the two tri-colored hairdos kept disappearing beneath the waves for several moments. At times, those who were in the water were acting like breaching whales as they fought to stand their ground against the sea's force… (2)

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

_Splat._

A wet blue shirt with grains of sand on it was dropped rather carelessly onto the dark, wooden railing of the balcony. Followed by a pair of wet grey linen pants.

_Splat._

With a small sigh, Seto sat down in one of the chairs and took a moment to just relax. The sun rays made the letters of a book title gleam brightly. Soon, the brunet opened the book and began reading the prologue, looking forward to this new lecture – an exciting one, just the way he liked it, and not one of those boring educational textbooks. He remembered **dreaming** of those back when he had been forced to study under unreasonable terms…

A thump reached his ears, and he looked up to see Bakura strolling toward their "house" with a composure as if he owned the place.

"Wait for me, Bakura!" From the same house the thief came from, Marik leapt artistically over the railing and almost tackled his friend when he caught up.

"Noa! Mokuba! Are you guys coming now or what?"

"Sure we are!"

Seto stood up and peered down, watching his brothers meet up with the two at times almost hyperactive yamis.

"Where are you going?" he asked, supporting himself on his lower arms.

"Whoa, Priest! Shorts and a tank top?! Could it be that you're loosening up?" Bakura asked, impressed, after he had quickly noticed the more casual clothing. Beside him, Marik wolf-whistled.

"I asked first," Seto pointed out, frowning at the one who had whistled at him.

"He needs some **mental** loosening up," Marik muttered into Bakura's ear, to which the albino nodded his head, muttering "Sheesh, how picky can you get…?" before answering:

"We're gonna go see if there's anything fun we can do until dinnertime! I mean, who'd waste an entire precious hour in the room?!"

"They asked us if we'd come along while Jou glomped you!" Mokuba added.

"Which is the answer to your question about my clothes, by the way," Seto told Bakura before addressing his brothers: "Before you go: did you lock away all your things into the safe?"

"Seto, we just finished unpacking!"

"And you forgot the safe?"

"Did **you** remember it?" Noa shot back.

Seto grinned triumphantly. "Of course. Why, what were you expecting?"

"…Darn," the teal-haired teen said, "I thought we could nail him."

"Not in those issues," Mokuba sighed, "You do it."

"What?! No, **you** do it!"

"You're older than me!"

"Oh, like **that's** a reason –!"

One story higher, Seto pinched the bridge of his nose. _'It's just a matter of coming up with a damn combination! Honestly…!'_

"No arguing, kids," Bakura interrupted and took a stance between them, "Let's make this short and sweet, shall we? Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a baby by the toe; if it squeals, let it go; eeny, meeny, miny, moe!" He had been pointing from Noa to Mokuba and back again while reciting this little rhyme, and in the end, the latter was the chosen one.

"Aw, man…!" the raven-haired Kaiba brother groaned, but initiated no further protest as he hurriedly returned to their room to program the safe.

"We're not babies – perhaps you should change that line," Noa advised Bakura, crossing his arms and giving him the typical Kaiba-glare.

"Where in the world did **you **learn **that**?! Or did my hearing deceive me?" Seto wondered in disbelief.

Marik turned around, and his shoulders shook violently as he desperately tried to stifle a bout of laughter while Bakura pretended not to notice that and waved his hand dismissively:

"**Someone** had to do something, and you sure as hell weren't any help at all! And besides, that's what Ryou does when he can't decide what to cook!" He cast an inquisitive glance at Noa. "Would 'catch a Kaiba by the toe' suit you better?"

Noa shrugged. "It's better than 'baby' –"

"You shall not use our family name in such a ridiculous rhyme!" Seto protested.

"You should be honored!" Marik told him brightly.

Seto scowled, but before he could give an answer to that, Mokuba came into view again.

"There, I'm done! Let's go! Oh, one more thing: Seto, can we leave the key with you? You'll be reading anyway, right?"

A sigh. "Sure, Mokie…"

"Catch!"

Fortunately, Mokuba had a good aim, so Seto didn't need to worry about a bad throw and a broken key as the possible result of that.

"Just don't… don't end up killing anyone or something," the CEO said in a tone of voice that sounded like "Oh dear".

"There's no need to worry; they'll be with **us**, after all!" the two ex-spirits replied in unison, draping an arm around each other's shoulders and making the victory sign with the other. They snickered when they witnessed how Seto shuddered, then the quartet set off in the direction of the pool; and even before they vanished from sight, two loud, evil laughs could be heard.

The brunet felt like biting his lower lip, but he fitfully suppressed that urge as he put the key on the table next to him and sat down again. The book lay in his lap, probably silently begging to be read. After briefly shaking his head and hoping that his brothers would come back in one piece – physically **and** psychically – Seto finally brought himself to refocus on his book, though in the back of his mind, he was bracing himself to hear screams or similar indications of terror.

_'…I'm getting way too worried,'_ he decided after a while when he discovered that he hadn't even finished the first page of the prologue yet. It was a disgrace to his reputation of reading quickly yet thoroughly.

"Hey Kaiba, is something eating you?" someone called suddenly, and he looked up from the book to see Malik grinning at him from afar.

"What gives you that idea?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Just wondering." If that was supposed to be a lie, then Malik wasn't doing a very good job.

"You should know better than to lie to me." Blue eyes narrowed, not caring whether that additional gesture could clearly be seen.

The Egyptian laughed. "Only kidding; I know you're bothered, and I can imagine why! But don't worry: neither he nor Bakura have their Sennen items with them. Therefore, there would only be half the damage! Just take it easy! See you at dinnertime!" Having performed his act of reassurance, he disappeared back into his room.

"They've got their hikaris to look out for them," Seto muttered, repeating what Katsuya had told him yesterday while mimicking his voice, "Hmpf! My ass!"

"What is with it?"

Seto looked up in time to see his wet clothes get company as Katsuya put his washed swimming trunks on the railing too. A little hand towel was draped over his head, and a few now almost brown-looking bangs poked out from underneath it. As he usually did after showers, he was merely wearing boxers and nothing else.

"You look stressed… or worried, something like that," Katsuya remarked as he sat down in the other chair. Noticing the book, he asked: "What're you reading?" He craned his neck to get a better look at the title. "…'Insomnia'? The things you read, oh boy…"

"I already know my taste is good, you don't need to rub it in," Seto smirked as he laid the book aside.

"Har har," Katsuya replied sarcastically, "So, what's with this 'my ass'? And you don't look too relaxed, if you ask me."

"You wonder why? Oh, let's sum up the facts." Seto counted them off his fingers as he spoke: "I've found out that someone honestly expects me to dance ballet before I get a duel, people have made moves on you in particular – curse them, by the way – clouds supposedly contain dragons et cetera, the psychos are even more psychotic than I thought they were, one of us was poisoned, and now I have the feeling that Mokuba and Noa are about to be converted to psychoism."

A brown eyebrow was raised. "You made that expression up just now. Admit it."

"Yes. So?"

Katsuya cracked up. "God, you're so funny when you're being so serious yet sounding so sarcastic!"

"If things stay like this, …what do people usually say then? Ah yes: if things stay like this, I'll need a vacation **because** of vacation."

"You're just saying that because you still need to get used to so much company you'll be stuck with for a while. C'mon, Seto, just laugh about it and relax. I bet you can do it!"

Briefly, Seto wondered how to accomplish that right now, but soon he got an idea – like he usually did. "You know, you're right. That's exactly what I'll do. Come on inside, puppy."

"Um… this **is** a scheme to relax, isn't it?" Katsuya asked as he rose hesitantly.

"Of course. It will only work with your cooperation, though. All you need to do is lay down on the bed," Seto told him as he gave the blond a firm yet gentle push in the chest.

Katsuya wasn't so sure about this "relaxation scheme", and he showed this by never breaking eye-contact with Seto, even as he slowly sat down and let himself fall onto his back. The eldest Kaiba waved a finger at him.

"Ah, ah, ah. Turn around, Katsuya."

"I hate to say this, but I'm just about to doubt this plan of yours," Katsuya said as he rolled over. Any moment now, he expected a tug at his boxers, which would most probably be followed by an act that usually wasn't relaxing, except perhaps in the aftermath.

But nothing like that happened; instead, the bed dropped a bit as a weight settled itself on the mattress, and the next thing Katsuya saw were Seto's knees. Before he could say something, he felt how two hands began to rub his hair dry with the towel. The movements were slow and a cross between delicate and sensual. They gave him nothing less than downright pleasure.

"So **this** was your plan," Katsuya mumbled as he crossed his arms and bedded his head on them.

"Your mind must have been in the gutter again," Seto chuckled.

"Mmh-hmm… But I thought you wanted to relax…"

"You don't necessarily have to be inert to do that. Now say no more and just… enjoy it, I hope," Seto whispered.

"You bet."

With a content sigh, Katsuya closed his eyes and allowed himself to get lost in the moment. Seto continued his actions for a while before removing the towel and then bent over until he could look into the other's face. The hazel eyes were open – or rather: half-open, and it seemed as if the one they belonged to had been waiting for this.

"You know, when you're lying down, you can relax the best," Shizuka's brother advised him, then snapped out of his state of immobility long enough to force Seto to lie down as well. A moment later, his now barely even damp hair was spread across one of the taller man's cheeks and his neck. He knew that they probably wouldn't stay like this for much longer than a couple of minutes before they would start to get ready for dinner, but Katsuya wanted to savor the moment anyhow and hugged Seto as good as he could.

"Thanks, by the way. It felt really good."

"It's a two-sided profit – and it was my pleasure, puppy," Seto assured him, putting his free arm behind his head while the other laid itself on Katsuya's body as if to keep him in place. Nothing more was said between them after that, and neither one moved much until the other two Kaiba brothers returned from their little outing with the two yamis, thankfully still sounding like they should and not as if evilness had overcome them (this put Seto more at ease)…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

By the time they went to have dinner, however, Seto looked as if he hadn't relaxed, not even a bit. Katsuya was mildly upset about this and blamed it all on the cards, the damn playing cards – and perhaps Seto's stubbornness as well. Who would have seen it coming that the brunet would lose even a simple game of War against Yami? Whenever those two played together, bad luck seemed to stick to one of them like a constant companion:

"War!" Yami declared when they were just about to call it a draw for now and head over to the dining area. This time, it would be a battle for aces.

Yugi and Katsuya sat with their partners, watching attentively. It was the last ace in Seto's case, and usually, one was more or less screwed without a single ace.

The way Yami and Seto played their first three cards facedown before bracing themselves to draw the final, crucial card, they looked like cowboys who were about to have a showdown in a dusty town in the Wild West. All that was missing was the tumbleweed. And the theme song from "Once upon a time in the West".

"You first," Seto said.

The Pharaoh shrugged and flipped over his card. His face fell a bit: it was a four.

"Yes! That ace is mine! Nothing could possibly go wrong now!" Seto exclaimed confidently.

"But Nii-sama, what about Murphy's Law?" Mokuba interjected timidly from where he looked over his brother's shoulder. When the elder was caught up in the euphoria of a supposedly impending victory (especially over his rival), casting any doubts on those hopes either had no effect at all or it could make Seto's mood make a 180-degree-turn, and that was almost as dangerous as an angry, Sennen-item-wielding ex-spirit.

"Screw Murphy's Law! Watch and weep, Yami!" With a fancy gesture, Seto revealed his card.

The silence that followed this could have been sliced with a knife. In a cartoon, the sounds of chirping crickets would have added greatly to the effect.

A two was mocking Seto's former rush of joy. The CEO stared at it in shock and disbelief.

"… …Well, I guess these are mine," Yami finally spoke and almost carefully reached out to collect the cards he had won. No sooner had he gathered them up when Seto burst out:

"This is impossible! How can it be?! Of all the cards I could have picked, it was a **two**! A lousy two! What the hell?!"

"Hold your horses, Seto!" Katsuya tried to appease him.

"This is War! **War**, for crying out loud…!"

"Wow, I've never seen Kaiba quite like this before," Yugi commented, watching Seto struggle to regain what he could of his composure.

"Perhaps that initial loss did more to him that I originally thought; after all, this is only War." The darker one shook his head a bit. "Aibou, I'd be glad if we could close the door **and** the windows tonight, just to be sure."

"Now you're exaggerating, Yami."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Yugi looked back at Seto, who was discussing something with Katsuya and only just managing to keep his voice low. Once, a noticeable yet not overly obvious gesture was made in Yami's direction. Still…

"You're acting as if he'd ambush you on purpose just for revenge."

"Look, I don't care how often others say that he's collected, reasonable and all those other things; when it comes to dueling, or trying to reclaim his title, to be precise, he is frighteningly persistent at times, and I'm not necessarily keen on finding out where his limits lie! Surely you too have noticed that he has hardly ever left out an opportunity to challenge me ever since we defeated him?" Yami asked as he neatly stacked the cards up to compare their heights.

"Perhaps you should –"

"Um, if you guys are ready too, we might as well get going," Katsuya interrupted. In the background, Mokuba and Noa were trying to reason with their brother, who was obviously still fuming.

"We'll sit at the other end of the table, otherwise there might be blood and thunder," Yugi sighed as he stood up.

"You said it, buddy."

They met up with the others at their own big table (which had been created by adjoining the tables that went with their rooms), where most of them noticed the one-sided tension between Seto and Yami.

"What's the matter? It's the second time already that he's grumpy," Anzu said to Mokuba as they inspected what the chefs had to offer for dinner.

"Before we came, Seto played a game of War with Yami and lost all his aces. It was a four against a two, and he kinda lost it."

"Aw, what a shame… Maybe some entertainment will cheer him up! Did you know that they have daily evening entertainment programs?"

"Really?! Sounds good! I don't know about Nii-sama, but **I** am looking forward to it!"

Anzu beamed at him; sometimes she marveled at the at times remarkable differences in attitudes of those two brothers. Then again, she like so many others hadn't yet had the pleasure to witness one of their private moments in which Seto was a different person than he was in public.

"Look, here's crab meat! Want some, Kura?" Ryou asked, happily pointing to the aforementioned meat which was being kept warm on a mobile grill.

"Sure, why not… I just wish they'd have a lovely, juicy steak too, though," the ancient thief sighed wistfully and held out his plate, letting Ryou pile a few pieces on it. While that happened, he looked around – and something he spotted made him crack his typical wicked grin.

"…Bakura?" Ryou asked. He knew that look: it usually meant that trouble would happen sooner or later.

"I'm fine, Hikari; I'm just feasting my eyes on my new target." The albino licked his lips.

One glance in the right direction made Ryou spin around and hiss: "Bakura, no! I told you not to harm that child!"

"Hurt him? Oh no, I'll just… **play** with him a bit. For now." Bakura started to whistle casually as he stalked off. Ryou made a brave attempt to protest his yami's actions as he tried to talk Bakura out of it; sometimes, if he was persistent enough, Bakura would indeed give in to his pleas, at least for a while.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Dinner was to everyone's satisfaction (it would have been perfect if not for someone's unanswered steak wish), and after the meal, they moved to where the pool table was. Before the show would start, some of them played a game of pool, and although a decent part of his mind was furiously pondering over how to get a duel **and** win against Yami, Seto still took great interest in watching Katsuya play quite well. His fantasy from the morning returned, and the brunet licked his lips in anticipation. He also found it quite tempting to watch his partner bend and twist as he tried to make a fancy shot with the stick behind his back…

At the bar, Anzu and Mai were talking with the quartet that had gone out earlier that afternoon.

"You mortals look so damn foolish when you jump and flap your arms like handicapped birds," Bakura snickered.

"They're called jumping jacks," Mokuba told him.

"Jumping jacks?" Marik took a sip from his (undoubtedly alcoholic) drink, then said thoughtfully: "Why the hell are they called jumping **jacks**? Did a guy called Jack come up with that idea or what?"

"Who cares? It looks really stupid, so they need a more stupid name anyway; a name like Bob or something." Bakura drained almost half his glass without pausing. "In fact, **I'll** just call them jumping bobs from now on." (3)

Noa and Mokuba laughed as they tried to imagine a gym teacher order the students to do jumping bobs, then the four of them clinked glasses. "Cheers to jumping bobs!"

"What brought you to jumping jacks at all?" Mai asked.

"A bunch of people were doing aerobics over there when we went on our little outing," Noa explained and pointed to where the show would take place.

"Aerobics?!" the two females exclaimed, then said simultaneously to each other: "Are you thinking what I'm thinking? …Yes!"

"Every second day, perhaps?"

"Yeah! How fortunate that there's a fitness program here!"

"You want to look dumb on purpose?! And you sound as if it's fun, even!" Bakura shook his head at them.

"It **is** fun!" Anzu argued, "I just imagine that it's like a dance! Sometimes life really is like a dance floor…"

"You need a drink; maybe then you'll make more sense," Ryou's yami mumbled into his glass, "Life is a dance floor… ugh!"

"The only fun thing about that would be if we'd control their minds and make them try to run up palm trees and kiss monkeys or spiders and stuff!" Marik cackled.

"Cool!" was Noa's comment upon imagining exactly those things. Ah, the benefits of mind control…! Thinking one step ahead, he wondered exactly how terrified and disgusted the victims would be if the mind control would end exactly when the people were kissing creatures they usually detested – take spiders, for instance.

"You could give us some additional ideas when they come to you, hmm, partner-in-crime?" Bakura proposed, extending his hand. Grinning, the teal-haired teen shook it. Of course, all this had been said quietly as not to let Mai and Anzu hear about it…

"Don't go ratting on your bro, now – if the Priest hears about this, he might just become the devil!" Marik warned Mokuba, though privately thinking: _'That would be rather interesting… I wonder exactly __**how**__ angry he can get…'_

"I'm not a snitch!" Mokuba huffed, crossing his arms. How dare someone accuse him of doing that?!

"Just precautionary measures, that's all," the tomb keeper defended himself, holding up his hands.

"Speaking of Kaiba… he looks like he has had a bad day, though I can't imagine why," Bakura commented, peering at the CEO over the rim of his glass. The two brothers explained what had happened, and they both wondered if Seto would be in need of a warning when the Psycho Duo got very distinctive, wicked smiles on their faces.

"Don't worry," they said with false innocence, "We just thought about how interesting that information is. We won't go after him or anything…"

"You'd be digging your own grave if you would," Anzu sighed.

"We know what we're doing. We **always** do."

Cue sweatdrops, particularly from Mai and Anzu, who had slightly more experience with the two of them than the younger Kaiba brothers.

When they noticed that simple white plastic chairs were being placed around the show area, they wrapped up whatever they were doing just then in order to get good seats. As some other guests joined them, Bakura gripped the arm lean of his chair very tightly with one hand as he spotted "the little fucker", who was eagerly waiting for the show. The piercing glare that was sent that way was impossible to ignore, and when eye contact was made, the boy shook his mother's elbow.

"Mommy, look, there's the man with bunny ears!"

"Honey, that's just a… a very unusual hairdo. Stay away from him," the woman replied while her gaze flickered to where the gang was sitting. Of course, since she remembered them from the plane, she even thought it would be best if her son would stay away from **all** of them, just to be sure.

Bakura bared his teeth and growled angrily. Some people thought that all he could do was steal things and torture Ryou – needless to say, the torture issue was almost always misinterpreted, depending on one's point of view – but no, the great Thief King Bakura could do many things if he really wanted to. And especially in situations when he was facing an enemy, he made use of his ability to lip-read so he wouldn't miss any anti-Bakura comments.

_"You can lip-read?!" Ryou had asked upon learning this. It was evident that he didn't believe his yami, who had once falsely claimed to be able to exchange a light bulb. That had been one hell of a "snap, crackle, pop" incident and was a legendary story in their neighborhood._

_"Of course I can," Bakura had smugly retorted, crossing his arms, "I simply find that I'm usually too lazy to actually apply that method."_

_To which Ryou had sighed in defeat: "Why am I not surprised…?"_

What it all came down to was that the albino had understood what the boy had said without needing to hear it, and frankly, he was royally pissed off.

"Bunny ears?!" he hissed angrily, "He dares to call my hair bunny ears?!"

"You're angry, right?" Marik asked eagerly. It was a trait they both shared that after being on "good" manners for however short a time, their reputation had to be restored to its full glory, and what better way to accomplish that than by wrecking havoc, one of their favorite pastime activities?

"Angry? Angry?! I'm fucking **furious**! **Someone's** gonna pay for this shit, Ra dammit!"

"Bakura, just sit still and shut your gob!" Ryou hissed reproachfully, lightly slapping his dark half's knee. Whenever the latter used such foul language, at least **minor **violence was close to the only way to reason with him.

"Or else what, Hikari?" Bakura spat. If anyone wanted to stop him, it had to be now or never before somebody might get seriously hurt.

"If you don't behave just this once, I swear I'll deal with you by other means than denying you sex!" It was straight to the point, and since this was slightly unusual for Ryou, the surprised glances of everyone were fixated on him.

Bakura's eyes got almost as wide as dinner plates, then he turned to look at Marik. Fake rivers of tears were running down his cheeks. "Marik, please tell me that I'm not mistaken… did Ryou actually show some backbone just now?!"

The Egyptian nodded. "Yep, that he did."

Bakura sniffed. "I'm so proud!"

"I'm serious!" his lover insisted, but the ex-spirit was too engrossed with marveling over this explicit display of opposition to react to that.

Seto covered his eyes with one hand. "Katsuya, you don't happen to have a paper bag on you, by any chance?"

"No… Aw, c'mon, you don't need to be ashamed or anything! After all, it's –"

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's **showtime**! I am your host, Malcolm, and to start it off I give you: Rubber Boy!" (4)

As it could probably be guessed by the mere name, Rubber Boy was a black man who was incredibly flexible, and it only took him a couple of moves to capture everyone's attention. There were normal people who simply enjoyed watching without thinking too awfully much about it – like the girls, the two younger Kaibas, Yugi and Yami – and then there were those who simply couldn't stick to such simplicity.

"Wow, look, Ryou! Why can't **you** do that? Oh wait, we never really tried to find that out, did we? This could be one hell of a night; we could be hurting all over by next morning! Joy to the world!"

"Bakura, shush!" Ryou flashed apologetic smiles to the people closest to them, who couldn't avoid hearing the tomb robber's comments. "Sorry, folks, but this is… um… really the way he is." The aforementioned people scooted their chairs away from them a bit. "Oh no, come on…!"

Malik and Marik were doing their best not to blink, trying to memorize all those positions which they surely try out sooner or later – presumably more sooner than later. How fortunate that they shared a bungalow with Ryou and Bakura; then any noises they might make wouldn't be considered too disturbing…

"It almost hurts just to **look** at it, doesn't it?" Seto remarked as the man bent and twisted his body like a pretzel.

Katsuya closed one eye and hummed in agreement. "Mmh, yeah… for both our sakes, I really pray that you're not keen on finding out whether we are quite **that** flexible."

Seto shrugged. "Maybe just a few tries…"

"If **you're** the guinea pig, it's fine with me."

"Like hell I will. But it's no big loss; I'm perfectly satisfied with the… flexibility you have now," Seto told him with a suggestive glance.

"Thank heavens; I do try hard, you know," Katsuya grinned.

"That I do, puppy."

A smile was all he needed to tell how much his comments were appreciated. Meanwhile, the show went on, and after Rubber Boy (who got a terrific amount of applause from the audience), Malcolm entertained them with some comical sketches. During those, Bakura and Marik lost interest somewhat, so they busied themselves with plotting some sinister ways of getting revenge instead. In hushed voices, they discussed which methods were better or worse, even trying to sort them by the scale of devastation and possible bloodshed.

"That kid will wish that he had never crossed the path of **me**, the great and mighty Bakura," the albino muttered darkly, keeping his eyes glued to his victim-to-be.

"This will be so much fun!" Marik rubbed his hands gleefully.

When the other people were busy once more with applauding for Malcolm, the hair-pulling boy looked in Bakura's direction again – and despite the fact that he had directed mocking grins at that strange man before, he couldn't help but get an uneasy feeling when the other pointed to him, then to one of his fingers. The youngster cocked his head in confusion, but then Bakura popped the tip of the finger in his mouth and bit down hard on it with a malicious look in his eyes. To the boy, it looked as if someone was actually trying to bite his finger off, metaphoric gesture or not, and he squeaked. His mother cleverly guessed what might be the cause of that, and turned her head quickly at the "party of oddballs", as she would call them later on.

Bakura loved toying with his appearance, so in a flash, he put on an act of naturalness that didn't suit him at all as he pretended to laugh his head off, though he had no clue what their host had just done – luckily for him, it had indeed been something funny and was therefore a cue for a laugh. Marik was acting similarly, and he even flashed the woman one of his "friendly, scary" smiles. Now it was **she** who quickly looked away to hide her unease while making a note that those people couldn't possibly be trustworthy…

Otherwise, the rest of the show went by peacefully, ending with two guys in a lion costume dancing to Bob Marley's "Iron Lion Zion". Particularly younger children loved this part, and parents had to restrain them when they were about to run out into the open and touch the lion, convinced that it was real and dancing there just for them.

"Isn't this place just marvelous? It's almost a shame that this is only vacation!" Anzu cheered when the show was over.

"If things go on like they have so far, I'll have aged by 50 years when this is over," Seto sighed, naturally referring to Bakura and Marik plus his own personal frustration.

"You're just stressing yourself, Seto," Noa said, "You should take it a bit easier. Yami **will** duel you, I'm sure of that, and as for your so-called 'Psycho Duo'… you're worrying too much."

"It's not only **them** I'm worried about," the eldest muttered, not caring whether Noa actually heard that or not.

"What are you mumbling about to yourself again?" Katsuya asked, noticing that Seto was just about to get absorbed in what really could be called the abyss of his thoughts, "C'mon, let's go have a drink!" The bar was just a few steps ahead, so the blond gestured to the bartender. "Could we have something… something exotic?"

The man nodded at him and began to prepare something.

"I need to map out a strategy, or I won't be quite myself anymore," Seto mused as they waited briefly.

_'He means: or else he'll go mad,' _Katsuya thought as he shook his head. It was another confirmation for him that Seto really should try and make some peace with his overly competitive side before someone would have an accident – and that meant something far worse than wetting the bed or something similarly trivial.

"Well, perhaps you should try to pick your challenges in a more friendly way. I'm not being a critic or anything, but you're pretty darn persistent. You can't – excuse me, you **shouldn't** always drive Yami into a corner a dozen times every time you guys meet just because you want him to play with you."

"He hardly leaves me another choice with his avoidant manner!" Seto protested.

"That's exactly what – oh, thank you!" Katsuya beamed when their drink arrived. It appeared to be a mixture of different fruit juices, with a green bottom layer, red in the middle and yellow on top. "Here, have a sip." He pushed the glass towards Seto before continuing: "As I was saying: that's exactly what happens **because** of your pushiness! Wouldn't you be doing the same if someone would treat **you** that way? …Wait, that's it: the press! It's the same principle! It's like you're the press, and Yami would be you or some other celebrity! And I know you: you feel defensive when they're all over you, so maybe now you can imagine why Yami often backs off from the start."

"…I really, **really** want that victory. That has been my goal ever since he beat me before Duelist Kingdom," Seto said before nodding once. "Not bad. A bit sweet, but not bad."

"Let me see." Katsuya leaned over and claimed the straw for himself, taking a very generous sip. "Mmh, this stuff's really good! I gotta remember this one!" Then, like Seto had quickly changed the subject before, he brought them back to the problem. "Look, even though it's probably not so easy for you, try to be a bit more… nice when you challenge Yami. And if you'd attempt to play more for the sake of having fun instead of just thinking about winning all the time, things might come your way a bit more."

"Hmm… maybe…" Seto stared thoughtfully into nowhere as he listlessly stirred up what was left in the glass. When a hand covered his own which was moving the straw, a smile played on his lips. "…Thank you, puppy," he said quietly.

"Anytime, Seto, my dragon."

The brunet relinquished the rest of the drink to Katsuya and simply couldn't help himself but think that although he avoided feeling bad whenever he could, when it actually happened, he felt better much quicker thanks to his beloved. Katsuya had a knack for cheering people up without using friendship speeches…

Since it was already half past ten and it was just their first day, most of them decided to slowly get to bed at this point. Bakura and Marik merely bade their hikaris goodnight since they hoped to spy on the "evil kid" and find out where he lived here. Particularly Ryou prayed that the mission would fail so the family would have at least one night of peace. Tomorrow was another day… Seto kept a close eye on Yami, and when he and Yugi retreated to their room, the CEO timed it perfectly that they would go back together. Yami was suspicious about this, but he wasn't challenged at all on the way. However, he could tell that Seto was badly itching to do so, and when his pity for the other's visible efforts became too much, he said when their ways were about to part:

"Alright, Kaiba, I know what you want to say, and I must admit that it's an amazing achievement that you held back until now. So… if you want, I'll play a little game with you. It's entirely up to you if you'll acc–"

"Of course I accept!" Seto interrupted. What most people would have described as a look of insanity was actually happiness blended with excitement.

"No matter what game?"

"No matter what game!"

"Okay. Rock, Paper, Scissors – three rounds, whoever makes two points first wins."

"You're on!"

Mokuba sweatdropped as he watched his honorable older brother nearly frolic over such a simple game. "Nii-sama really is getting desperate," he sighed.

"We need to keep an eye on him before he'll go psycho – and then he wouldn't be able to deny that '**he** is reasonable, compared to some crazy yamis he knows'," Noa agreed, miming quotation marks as he recited what the elder had once said, at the same time wondering what he had forgotten – he knew it was **something**, but he just couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"I'm glad I'm not the only who's worried about what they've gotten themselves into. Yami's almost becoming paranoid about it," Yugi remarked as he watched the other two go into the second round.

"I talked to Seto, don't worry. And I've got a feeling that he'll try to do things better this time and take it a bit easier," Katsuya said confidently – but just then, the third and final mini-duel came to an end:

"Rock beats scissors! I win! Ha, in your **face**, Yami!" Seto was one inch short of cheering. Many people would have called it an almost frightening sight.

"Bravo, Kaiba. Well, guys, see you tomorrow!" Yami called to the others before proceeding on to his and Yugi's room. One of the last things they heard before closing the door was:

"Did you see **that**?! He thought he could unsettle me when his scissors beat my paper, but the same old trick wouldn't work twice…!"

"Poor Jou," Yugi stated with a headshake as they closed the door.

"I'm sure he won't mind if Kaiba's a bit cheerful." Yami looked quite happy as he began to undress. "You know, aibou, perhaps we **can** leave the window open tonight anyway."

Yugi was relieved that his lover was more at ease now, and he laughed amusedly as he went to open the window and thus deemed the air conditioning useless that night…

* * *

I'll definitely need to make proper use of this extended, 5-day-weekend... with good reason: the final exams are approaching, and as I have probably said before, I've got a hell of a lot of stuff to learn, and I don't want to flunk every test, so there soon will be a time when it will take me longer to update. You have been warned!

As usual, feedback is very much appreciated! Once more, I'd like to thank everyone who gave it to me so far... infinite plus one thanks!!

(1) What happened to Mai actually happened to my Mom. That was one nasty sea urchin...

(2) Ah, good times... I once lost one sandal plus a pair of diving goggles in those waves! _(lol)_ Yep, it sure is different from swimming in the pool.

(3) Don't ask. Hmm... how did I come up with this again...?

(4) Yup, that's what they were called... Malcolm often began his announcements with "Damen und Herren, it's showtime!". We used to laugh because he forgot the "Meine" at the beginning (proper German grammar... dunno how much you make out of this XD)


	6. Chapter 6

_(cringes)_ Oh my God, I'm so sorry for the dreadfully long delay! I was having a bit of writer's block, and I had to finish some stupid project for school... argh, I was so frustrated! Luckily, my muse returned to me on Monday, so I could get a lot done :) Again, I apologize for not updating for so long, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. I was unsure at first, but... it should be okay.

Ah well, enough of me - have fun reading!

* * *

The sun was shining warmly, a soft breeze that smelled slightly salty was in the air, and weaver birds were twittering from the high perch of their round nests in trees. And Noa could practically hear Edvard Grieg's "Morning mood" as an emphasis on this early-day harmony. With a quite content sigh, the teen took a seat outside of the room, pushed his glasses a bit further up his nose and switched on his portable gaming device. Mokuba was still asleep, mumbling something about blending Coca-Cola with Oreos. Noa grimaced at the thought – what made it worse was that he had actually **seen** his brother dunk one of those cookies into a glass of Coke and even declare that it wasn't half bad! Talk about weird taste…

He gave an exasperated sigh when his character died. Right before the checkpoint, even. Great, now he'd have to do it all over again!

"Stop thinking about Mokuba and his taste disorder. Focus, Noa, **focus**," he told himself firmly as he confirmed that yes, he wanted to try again.

The quietness in the air suggested that either nobody was up yet, or if anyone **was**, they weren't letting the whole world know. It didn't take a genius to find out whom the exact opposite applied to… Last night, there had been no loud yelling or other noises that sounded like an entire parade instead of only two people, so Bakura and Marik's mission had either failed (and like back with the windows of the limousine, they would pout when things didn't go their way) or Ryou and Malik had miraculously found some way to shut them up. The first option seemed more likely, though. Noa and Mokuba had watched some TV, occasionally getting distracted by thumping noises from overhead. The two younger Kaibas had decided unanimously that the others were merely having a pillow fight or something. It could happen.

The difficulty of the levels increased rapidly, and as his gaming talent was challenged more and more, Noa leaned forward until his nose was practically just an inch away from the little screen.

"I'll get you, I'll get you… I'll– **Damn**! Dead again!" Noa sighed exasperatedly, switched off the device and looked up.

A pair of big brown eyes stared at him. The body they belonged to was perched on the railing, which wasn't even a foot away from where Noa sat. For a split second, there was utter silence except for the merry weaver birds, then a scream pierced the tranquility:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" (1)

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

_'A new day, a new challenge. Today is your day, take nr. 1,782. Or something like that.'_

Before even bothering to open his eyes, Seto groaned and began to stretch. Doing that in bed was much easier than when one was standing up; that way, losing one's balance wasn't an issue. To him, this was yet another proof that logic was virtually infallible and the safest bet of all. But instead of just grasping air, his groping fingers touched something warm, something that moaned in protest when getting pushed away as the eldest Kaiba stretched anew.

Seto finally opened his eyes to see Katsuya frown as if in disappointment, then the blond rolled over, now facing the door to the balcony instead. The CEO ended his momentary movement and simply couldn't resist putting a hand on the other's shoulder and murmuring:

"Sorry, puppy…"

Katsuya merely grunted and moved yet again, rolling onto his back.

"You don't like being disturbed, do you?" Seto whispered.

"Mmh… disturbed…" Katsuya repeated drowsily, barely moving his lips.

"Although; you **did** once mention that you don't mind so much if it's **me** who's disturbing you," Seto recalled with a smirk. He often did this when he just couldn't quite bring himself to get up right after awakening: talk to Katsuya, who would usually still be asleep. It was rather fun to hear someone parrot things you say while they were still sleeping…

"Disturbing you…"

Seto's smirk widened, then he closed his eyes as he made yet another one of his customary "plans for the day": get up, drink a cup of invigorating coffee to feel truly alive once more, challenge Yami to a duel, work, maybe – **big** maybe – go into the water, challenge Yami to a duel, read (and finally finish the damn prologue to get on with the story), go for a short walk, challenge– Oh wait, hadn't he told Katsuya that he would try to cut down on his constant challenging attitude? Hoo boy, that would be hard; harder than he thought it would be.

"If only he'd **accept**! But **no**, he has to be like **that**… after all, why make things easy when they can be complicated?" he asked himself sarcastically.

"Look who's talking! **Who's** the one who almost brought along a bungee cord when we went to the amusement park?"

"Just because an amusement park itself is one of my main projects doesn't mean that I actually like to go on those rides." Seto looked to the side and into Katsuya's half-open eyes. "Good morning, pup."

"It sure is," Katsuya replied before shortly kissing Seto, "Say, are you gonna go swimming today too? Pleeeeease?"

"Maybe."

As their relationship had progressed and deepened, Katsuya had gradually learned that certain things Seto Kaiba said meant something else than when others said them. "Maybe" usually meant "probably not", for instance.

"And if I'd volunteer to rub sunscreen on you?" Katsuya grinned.

"I admit that it's a tempting thought… to top it off, could you promise to take your time? I repeat: we'll be here for two **weeks** –"

"I'm not hyperactive, you know."

"Yet I sometimes get the impression that you **are**."

"Do you want me to withdraw my offer?"

"Not necessarily."

"It's a deal, then." Katsuya returned to the original position he had been lying in and took almost possessive hold of Seto's arm, clutching it tightly, and muttered: "Mornings like this could last forever, if you ask me…"

Seto didn't reply, but he smiled. If such mornings really **would** last forever, his mind would be condemned to recite its "today is your day, take xyz" phrase until time itself would end, and he would never get to duel Yami; however, aside from that "small" issue, he agreed with Katsuya to a far extent. Now, as he stared at the patterns the sunlight made on the ceiling, his discovered that his thoughts were briefly with his parents once more, as they had been rather often since he had found his happiness in Shizuka's brother. He was convinced that they would have been enthralled by the blond as well and been happy for them – absolutely the contrary to Gozaburo, and perhaps the senior Jounouchi. As far as Seto was concerned, he never would have bothered introducing Katsuya to Gozaburo at all if that man had still been alive. No way in hell. But his **parents**, yes, that surely would have been a far more harmonic story…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Both Seto and Katsuya pricked their ears up at the sound of that yell.

"What the hell?" Seto wondered, sitting up.

"Sounds like someone met a monster or something!"

Just then, there came more yelling, and now they could clearly tell that it was coming from beneath them. That realization made Seto leap out of bed and go straight for the door.

"If it's that blasted tomb robber, I swear I'll wring his neck!" he snarled.

"Like you almost did on the plane?" Katsuya asked as he hurried after him.

"This time, I would **finish** the job! Mokuba! Noa!" Seto yelled as he all but pounded on the door.

"Nii-sama! Over here!"

The two men found Noa and Mokuba on the patio, looking startled and perhaps even a bit afraid.

"What happened?" Katsuya asked.

"I think we're having a problem. A little invasion, so to speak," Noa answered and pointed.

The others looked, and while Seto seemed to be at a loss for words, Katsuya remarked: "Well, I guess we can't quite call the exterminator for this one."

A major fight was raging in the room; most of it was taking place on the bed. Three monkeys had teamed up against one of their comrades, who didn't only have his **hands** full, but his **feet** as well. It was clutching all the bread rolls Noa had saved up for Katsuya, and now it was determined to be a greedy little bastard and have it all for itself. Of course, the others were far from agreeing with that, and now they screamed and shrieked at each other as they made repeated grabs at the edible booty. The bed simply **had** to be suffering under all the wild jumping…

"We tried to chase them out, but one of them jumped on my head. I'm not going anywhere near them anymore!" Mokuba said, and judging by the way he fingered his hair, the monkey had heavily relied on those long black strands for support.

"My offer for a haircut still holds, you know," Seto replied, noticing that gesture.

"Forget it, Seto."

"Just a little trim…"

"A **little** trim?! Ha! Eight inches is what **you're** thinking about, just admit it!"

"Here they go again," Noa sighed.

"Stubbornness 1 versus Stubbornness 2," Katsuya agreed, also with a sigh.

"Look, Mokuba, I wouldn't be saying anything if people wouldn't mistake you for a girl every now and then – even nowadays."

"It's not **my** fault that they don't bother to look closer!"

"Oh, fine, I'd even agree to **four** inches –"

"No! If you hadn't based that girly character in one of the games you made a while ago on me, maybe people wouldn't be getting the wrong idea in the first place!"

"Hello-o! We've got some monkey business to take care of, remember?!" Katsuya said loudly.

"What?" the two brothers asked in unison, then looked in the direction Katsuya was pointing.

"Oh, right," Seto said, "Well then, let's get to work."

"That's it: let's get to work?! You just forget the argument?"

"I don't **forget**, Katsuya; I merely **postpone** things. Now, you'll come from the left, and I'll come from the right."

"Either you're right or you've got the memory of an elephant."

"You're flattering me. Now let's get this over with – I'm getting an incredible craving for a cup of coffee."

Katsuya slapped a fist against the palm of his other hand. "We're going in."

Like two sheepdogs, they swept into the room to take on the challenge of herding the battling monkeys back outside. But the primates weren't all that happy about the interruption and screeched even more as they now were also forced to dodge the swiping and shooing gestures of the humans. The monkey that held the bread rolls captive eventually decided to seek better refuge on top of the closet – but during its reckless jump, one of the prized rolls got dropped right at Katsuya's feet.

"Ha! About time you forked over one of those!" the blond cheered, picking up the nourishment that had been meant to be his in the first place. Grinning, he held it up as if he were making a toast to the creature atop the closet. "Thanks, pal!"

"Katsuya, you'd do better with booting it out of here instead of assuring it your gratitude!" Seto huffed while he was trying to deal with a monkey that kept jumping back and forth as if in an act of taunting.

"Ow! Watch it, will ya?!" Katsuya exclaimed when another monkey leapt onto his head, using its feet to grab some hair strands for support. From outside, Mokuba winced as he understood all too well what the other was feeling just then. Meanwhile, the monkey leaned forward until it almost was hanging over Katsuya's face and grasped the roll as well. It made what could only be described as a noise of annoyance when the other hand didn't draw back and thus admitted defeat.

"Hey, let go!"

Unimpressed by that prompt, the furball committed the incredibly human gesture of simply slapping the back of the free hand which aimed to pluck it from its perch.

"Throw away the bread!" Seto yelled.

"But… but Seto, it's **food** –!"

"Ditch it!"

"Hey, what's going on in there?"

"Are they fighting or what?"

Yami, Yugi and the girls obviously hadn't overheard the commotion and now sauntered over curiously. Just then, one of the monkeys gave a particularly loud and shrill cry. Mai raised an eyebrow.

"**That** sounded serious."

"They're taking care of some uninvited –" Mokuba began.

"Guys, duck!" Katsuya's voice called out to them.

Mokuba and Noa instantly obeyed, and the others stopped in their tracks just before they would be visible from the room. Yami was in the middle of yawning when a roll of bread whizzed by his face, missing it by little more than an inch. Like someone who had been petrified, the Pharaoh froze, his eyes wide in silent shock.

Barely a second after the bread had made a flying getaway, the roll-hogging monkey came bounding out of the room, closely followed by its colleagues. The leader scampered straight past the stray roll and cleverly climbed up the nearest bungalow, which happened to be the one Bakura and the rest lived in. Its congeners all made a dash for the single roll, and now those who were awake could only watch the battle rage on in the open. On the balcony of the upper story, the first monkey paused and looked back as if to admire the result of its strategy, making a few happy jumps. Suddenly:

"Hey! There's a monkey with a blue ass on my swimming trunks! What the hell?!"

"Kura –!"

A beam of dark light burst from that room, indicating that once more, Bakura had been seized by the desire to banish another sorry soul to the Shadow Realm. Luckily for the monkey, it must have sensed the impending doom not the fraction of a second too late, and it jumped onto the roof's edge, from where it leapt to the branch of a nearby tree.

"Ra dammit, I **missed**!" A moment later, Bakura appeared, looking livid, and his hair a total mess. It didn't take long for him to spot the animal in the tree, and he hissed like a snake. "Mocking me, aren't you?" he growled, then raised his voice: "You! Blue-ass monkey! You had better watch out, or else!" He pointed to his eyes, then to the monkey. The typical 'I'm keeping an eye on you' gesture. If looks could kill…

The furry culprit only bothered to stick around for one more second before it took off to find a spot where it could devour the stolen bread in peace.

"Damn, now I have germs from a monkey's ass on my swimming trunks!" Bakura complained. He looked back and saw Ryou giving him a reproachful look, tapping his foot as well. "What?!"

"Did I miss something?"

A rather sleepy-looking Marik came into view now as well. Although he was just as active as Bakura, he was a heavier sleeper than the latter when they **did** decide to get some sleep. One could imagine that Malik wasn't unhappy about this.

While Yugi shook Yami to get his lover to snap out of his shocked state and the others had a lively conversation about what had just happened, Seto put an arm around Katsuya.

"Is everything alright, pup?"

"What shouldn't be?"

"You're not telling me that I just imagined you screwing your face up because you were in obvious pain?" the brunet asked, lightly fingering one of the hair strands.

Katsuya winced. "Ow! Not there! You're right, you're right!"

"I thought so. Forgive me for hurting you," Seto said quietly as he carefully sorted out the mop of hair which had been messed up additionally by the monkey.

The other man merely shrugged in a gesture of forgiveness, for he knew that Seto had only wanted to be sure. Actually, he was enjoying this attention – it was a part of the mornings he really cherished, mornings on which the eldest Kaiba brother was explicitly affectionate like this.

"Jou?"

"What's up?"

"I guess it's my fault for all this mess. I forgot that I had put some rolls aside for you," Noa confessed as he fidgeted guiltily.

"Hey, it's not your fault. I was the one who forgot to get back to you on that. …This definitely is a new one," Katsuya muttered to himself as he realized that he had really forgotten about food.

"Seto, don't you have anything to say about this?" Mokuba asked pointedly.

"Since you sound as if you already have an idea about what I **should** say, why don't you just say it?"

"And people say you're not lazy…" the raven-haired teen muttered before answering normally: "Fine, fine: no more cutting lunch short just for a quickie."

"Mokuba!"

"What? It's the truth!"

'_And what would __**you**__ have done in my place?'_ Seto wondered before he shrugged. It could hardly be considered **his** fault that his significant other was so darn hard to resist. There were plenty of occasions – both coincidental and deliberate – that had secretly driven Seto to give him the middle name "Temptation"…

"Okay, we've lost him," Noa remarked matter-of-factly when Seto got a somewhat absent look after his nonchalant shrug, "Any suggestions what we should do now?"

"I'm dreaming of a buffet that calls out to me," Katsuya said meaningfully. His voice even hinted some ever so faint traces of the "White Christmas" tune.

"That settles it. Guys, we're off to breakfast!" Mokuba informed the others.

The general idea appealed to the rest of the gang as well, for just a few moments later, everyone was heading to the dining area. At the rear end of the group, particularly Ryou and Bakura were arguing once again.

"I can't believe I missed! Maybe I should practice my aim a bit…"

"Oh, and terrorize more people while you're at it?" Ryou huffed.

"There **are** plenty of targets –" Bakura began thoughtfully.

"Please be reasonable just this once! Think about the consequences!"

"Consequences, shmonsequences! Who the hell would stop me? And besides, **if** I would allow my conscience to momentarily obtain a pinkish color like yours, how would I practice? Aim at the sky?"

"No, you wouldn't! I still haven't forgotten that jumbo jet you hit the last time you made the sky your target!" Ryou protested, "And my conscience is **not** pink!"

"Of course it is – you can't hurt a fly!"

"Nonsense; I kill lots of flies in the summer!"

"By letting them get stuck to those sticky gimmicks you buy, maybe! But that's the sissy way!" Bakura retorted dismissively. When it came to killing things, nobody impressed him too easily. And especially concerning flies, he had a rather odd ritual: he would half-celebrate the first fly he smashed every year. Just this year, he had killed one that had landed on the bathroom mirror. Its guts had gotten spread out generously, and of course, Ryou hadn't been delighted at all, contrarily to his yami.

"**We** fry 'em. Literally," Marik interjected.

"You fry a fly?" Bakura repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I bought an electric fly swatter," Malik explained. "It looks like a tennis racket, almost, and when you corner the fly, you press a button and the thing gets smoked." (2)

"When they're dead, you can fling them around as you please. Keep the electricity running and you can hear them sizzle!" There was hardly a doubt that the electric fly swatter was one of Marik's favorite toys, though nothing could top the Sennen Rod. Shadow Magic ruled **everything**. "The neighbor's cat loves fried flies – I sometimes gather up a bunch and put them on a plate."

Seeing that Ryou was aghast at this newly learned fact, Malik laughed. "That cat has a few loose screws, if you ask me. And it's a living trash can; it eats just about anything! It even ate a pickle once!"

"That sounds like one weird cat…" Ryou sighed, wondering if part of those eating habits hadn't been provoked by Marik.

While their hikaris got engaged in that conversation, Bakura and Marik had their own low-voiced discussion.

"We need to come up with a plan of some sort, or I'll go nuts! What fun is it to be able to use Shadow Magic if you never should exercise it?" Bakura wondered exasperatedly.

"Hey, I feel for you. Look, we **will** be able to practice – I'd gladly join you, obviously – but we'd just have to choose the right time. In other words, a night-time outing," his Egyptian friend replied.

"Hmm… yeah, that sounds good. It's not like that would be unusual behavior in my case…"

"Same with me. And Malik would even keep Ryou company, if it should be necessary."

"Even better. Now, about the Priest…" Bakura grinned slyly.

"We'll need to be **very** professional," Marik finished with an identical look on his face.

They were looking forward so much to executing their plan that the yamis couldn't restrain a laugh as they arrived at their table and watched their next target get dragged to the buffet by Katsuya, who was once again trying to convince him to get a truly decent breakfast.

"Could you **please** stop laughing like that?! You're freaking everyone out!" Ryou told them, elbowing Bakura for good measure.

"That's hardly a news bulletin," Marik waved the accusation aside. Then he and Bakura waggled their fingers while saying in a rather ironic tone of voice: "Fear our awesome evilness, our **newest** feature presentation which we most certainly **aren't** known for…!"

"…I need a cup of tea. **Now**," Ryou muttered desperately before whirling around and making a beeline for the offered drinks. He knew when he wasn't being taken seriously, and if he had already had his tea, he might have tried to defend his point; but like Seto who needed his coffee before he functioned properly, Ryou needed a good cup of tea before he was one hundred percent himself.

"Raise your hands: who **didn't** see that coming?" Bakura asked amusedly.

The two Egyptians just shook their heads, and as a trio, they went to get breakfast. Mokuba and Noa almost spewed their juice across the table upon learning that their older brother would go into the water with them later on. Or at least, there was a chance that that might happen. Their words of persuasion reached Bakura and Marik's ears, and they paused, each holding a knife in their barbaric grip and a fruit in the other hand. After quickly deciding that this new information would hardly interfere with their plan, they carried on where they had left off and – as the at times messy eaters that they were – attempted to squish the fruit with their hands.

Whether it was fortunate or not that those fruit were very juicy was debatable, but no matter what, Yami, who was sitting opposite the other two dark ones, got the full blast: he got splattered with mango and quince juice. The Pharaoh had been in the process of enjoying a slice of pineapple. Slowly, he lowered his hand, keeping his eyes glued to the other two.

"…Oops," Marik said gleefully.

"Bull's eye!" Bakura was positively surprised about the consequence of his fruit-squishing.

"Someday, you two will be the death of me," Yami sighed heavily, shaking his head a bit. His grip on the pineapple slice tightened.

"Who else would have the honor?" Marik shot back and high-fived Bakura, who asked teasingly:

"Aw, is the ickle Pharaoh pissed off?"

"No, I'm completely calm." Three cheers for sarcasm…

Yugi had a feeling that the situation might escalate – there were certain signs, and you didn't need to be a rocket scientist to read them properly. And God knew that Yami only had that much temper when it came to his two archenemies. Hoping that his darker side would contain himself, he offered him a napkin plus a comforting pat on the shoulder.

"Oh, don't wipe it off just yet."

Yami knew that he wouldn't be able to get out of the upcoming conflict – after all, he knew what that mischievous glint in the others' eyes meant. Still, he put up a fight as always.

"Why not? Give me one good reason," he told them.

Now he was definitely in for it – one of the gang's unwritten maxims was not to challenge the yamis, though Yami usually wasn't the one who provided chaos – and Marik and Bakura yelled two words in unison:

"Food fight!"

Yami barely had time to make big eyes before the rest of Bakura's squished mango added to the new fruity look of his face. Marik howled with laughter until a half-eaten slice of pineapple hit him right in the kisser, as it could be said so charmingly. The Egyptian shook his head and made a noise of disgust.

"Yuck! Pharaoh germs!"

"Don't get me infected!" Bakura yelled, and his bacon got a free ticket straight to the other's face.

"Why you…!"

It was after that breakfast for the latest that all the present guests knew that there were some people with strange manners running around at the hotel. The air was thick with flying fruit, meat and even corn flakes. Women shrieked and tried to usher their children out of the "danger zone" while the teenagers among them whooped with joy and gladly participated until either their mothers or fathers came to get them as well. The waiters and chefs were clearly unsure how to handle the situation, and that became even more evident when one watched their hesitant attempts to restore order. Anzu and Mai were among those who chose to flee to safety, and on their way out, they gave the friendly folk some useful advice:

"Don't interfere. Saving your own hide is the best plan of action in a case like this."

"They're… coco-loco?" one man asked, making the all-too-obvious gesture.

"In some ways, yes. We're really sorry for the inconvenience."

Having said that, the two women left the dining area in a hurry. By now, things really were a royal mess: the tables, the floor, the chairs… practically everywhere was a graveyard of fruit and meats. And still Bakura, Marik and Yami were fighting furiously, each just barely distinguishable under the mish-mash of what they had been hit with. They were in a world of their own as they bombarded each other with Japanese and Egyptian battle cries too.

"Well, this is one heck of a morning, isn't it?" Katsuya asked cheerfully.

"You bet! We should do this at home sometimes too!" Mokuba agreed, wiping his forehead with his hand and thus removing half a papaya.

"Mokuba, you're seventeen. Don't you think that you're a bit old for food fights?" Seto asked exasperatedly before sipping his coffee.

"Why? You said that there still were food fights in your senior year at high school," the raven-haired teen argued.

"Food fights **I** didn't participate in," his brother pointed out.

"Yeah; all **you** probably did was lick the stuff off Jou afterwards," Noa joked.

Seto narrowed his eyes. "…Who told you that?" Hence, the statement was true.

"Nii-sama!" Mokuba faked a shock.

"Oh, sue me," Seto mumbled sarcastically into his cup.

"C'mon, it was just an innocent question!" Noa laughed. No sooner had the words left his mouth when he began to wonder about the "innocent" part. Or maybe, he figured, he didn't quite want to know all the details. If any non-family member had asked Seto such a thing, they would have either gotten the verbal reprimand of their lives or – in extremely extreme cases – a kick in the teeth. But all Noa got was a playful nudge.

"Man, my legs are starting to fall asleep… maybe the coast is clear now!" Katsuya, always the optimist, peered out from their hiding place. Directly ahead, he didn't see anybody, but suddenly a tangle of three bodies fell to the floor right in front of him. Yami, Bakura and Marik were grunting and (amazingly, in one case) half-laughing as they rubbed food in each other's faces and messed up one another's hair with their dirty fingers. The blond dropped the tablecloth again and turned to the other three.

"Well, it looks like they've switched to close-range fighting now, so if we head in the opposite direction, we can get out of here safely."

"That's a relief; I'll be glad to leave this spot," Seto replied as he drained his cup.

"Hiding under a table with you of all people definitely is a memory to keep," Mokuba grinned.

"Is this really just the second day?" Seto sighed.

"Isn't it awesome?" Mokuba and Noa asked happily in unison.

"Let's go, move, move, move!" Katsuya said, lifting the cloth at the other side of the table. As the four of them crawled out on all fours, some other guests emerged from beneath the tables, and a few minutes later, the three yamis were the only ones left in the dining room.

"What am I going to do with him? What are we going to do about this mess? You think we could offer community service to the hotel?"

Ryou looked very abashed and nervous. He was standing there with Malik and Yugi, who were trying to comfort him.

"Hey, don't be so upset…"

"They just wrecked the food and not the furniture, so offering community service might be going a **bit** overboard."

"Gee, Ryou, you're white as a ghost," Noa stated concernedly.

"He's uber-worrisome again; he's considering to offer community service," Yugi whispered.

"Ouch," the two younger Kaibas muttered.

"Kaiba, I'm really sorry about Bakura. I keep telling him not to act like this, but he just –"

"Spare yourself the excuses," Seto interrupted him firmly, "Remember that I'm not responsible for anyone of you except my family, so there's no need for you to apologize to me."

"Still –" the Briton began.

"Save it," Seto repeated.

"Let's go to the beach, Ryou. A bit of relaxation is what you need now," Malik said sweetly and began to push his friend away. He called back over his shoulder: "Marik, try not to stay too much longer anymore, okay? You promised me a walk along the beach, remember?"

"Coming in a moment, love!" a muffled voice answered, "Not the lemon, Pharaoh! If you do that…!"

There were some spluttering noises plus a few more curses.

"We should be on our way too – I am **not** interested in watching three crazies beat each other to bloody pulps," Seto suggested.

"He's volunteering! Let's go, let's go!" Katsuya got all excited and unintentionally switched into eager-puppy-mode as he tried to drag Seto behind him. Remembering their brother's promise, Mokuba and Noa joined in hurrying him along. The last thing they heard from the dining area was a yelp from Bakura when he got whacked with a kiwi.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Not much later, everyone except the three yamis had found their way to the beach. Ryou was sitting tailor-fashion on his chair and was surrounded by no less than four people: Malik, Yugi, Anzu and Mai. Especially the first-mentioned was on a roll and giving Bakura's hikari some advice when it came to standing his ground.

"Repeat after me: my yami is not the boss of me."

"You mean you actually made that point clear with Marik?" Mai asked.

Malik rolled his eyes. "Yes. He said that as long as I don't get in the way of his outings and whatever else he's up to, he won't direct his sadistic tendencies against me. And besides, I can endure quite a bit. Now, Ryou, what did I just say?"

"That you made a deal with Marik and he wouldn't hurt you –"

"No, no, no! What did I say **before** that?"

"Um… my yami is not the boss of me."

The others exchanged a glance, then Anzu remarked: "Not bad. If you'd sound a tad more confident, then it would be perfect."

Ryou raised an eyebrow, but Malik nodded in agreement.

"Exactly. Again, buddy."

"My yami is not the boss of me," Ryou drawled.

"Not confident enough," Mai deemed this new try.

"Guys, he won't listen anyway!" Ryou sighed dejectedly.

"Yes, he will! You need to **try**! You need to **stand up**! Fight for your right! You both will be much happier…" During his encouraging speech, Malik repeatedly slapped his fist against his palm for strong emphasis, and as usual in such situations, his lavender eyes were almost gleaming with passion. It was a remarkable contrast to Ryou's still doubtful facial expression.

A few chairs away, Seto took off his shirt, ready to enjoy Katsuya's caresses while he would get protection from the sun rays. Just as his partner was rooting around in their beach bag for the sunscreen, the three darker halves entered the scene. Yami looked disgruntled, which was probably due to the reason that his hairdo now looked almost like a fruit bowl. And it explained the death glare he gave the other two before he ambled over to Yugi, who tried really hard to suppress an amused grin. Bakura and Marik skillfully ignored that and headed straight for Seto and Katsuya.

"Seto, I don't like that look on your face… Did I say something or what?"

"No, it's nothing…."

Katsuya followed the brunet's gaze and noticed that he was watching Yami. Realization struck him. "Oh. You want to challenge him again, huh?"

"I think I've done a pretty good job today so far – or have you heard me challenge him officially?"

"…No."

Bakura and Marik smirked at each other. What they had just heard strongly suggested that although Seto had kept his mouth shut so far, he had probably been mentally screaming for Yami to duel him. Perhaps he had even been hoping to give off respective vibes that would have been strong enough to gain the Pharaoh's attention… They shared an identical thought in the moment before they spoke up:

'_**Perfect**__.'_

"Blondie, could we speak with Mr. Big, Rich & Famous for a few moments?"

"What about?" came the automatic question.

"Something important."

Seto glared at them suspiciously. They were loud-mouths and rarely asked to speak to anyone in private, so at least to that extent, one had to understand his skepticism. What's more, he couldn't think of anything that was too important for them to say it into his puppy's face as well.

The latter thought about it for a moment, then grinned. "Okay!"

Seto bit back a sigh. Leave it to Katsuya to just accept it without any second thoughts… He brought the usual cold, firm look onto his face while the blond ambled over to the others, who were apparently engrossed with summing up reasons why Ryou finally had to learn to put Bakura in his place even if he wasn't plain furious with him.

"Alright, make it quick: what do you want?"

Bakura adjusted an imaginary tie, cleared his throat and spoke: "Seto Kaiba, we would like to offer you something you might be interested in."

"Something I'm interested in? From you? **This** I have to hear," Seto leered.

"A proposal," Bakura explained.

The CEO raised an eyebrow. "You'll have to do better than that. You're losing me." It didn't take him three seconds to see through their wannabe-professional scheme, and as a businessman, he was amused to see how they handled themselves.

"And what if our proposal would have something to do with a certain character you strive to defeat by all means?" Marik asked nonchalantly.

Just as they had guessed, this caught Seto's attention in the blink of an eye. "…Carry on," he prompted them slowly with an inviting gesture.

Bakura and Marik tried to keep their faces as straight as possible; they knew that the fish was inspecting the bait and just about to take it. Plus, this was a big fish they were talking about. Showtime, baby.

"B.A.D. Inc. would like to help you obtain the duel you crave so much," the albino said.

"B.A.D.? What the heck does **that** stand for?" Seto asked. _'I have to hand it to them – they __**are**__ being creative…'_

"That's simple: bad-ass dudes, of course," Marik told him.

'_I should have known.'_ Seto knitted his brow a bit, but figured that for the sake of maybe finally reaching his goal, he would hear them out. "Alright, alright… Tell me more about this proposal of yours."

"We will help you get your precious duel. All we ask of you is that you keep at it."

The elder Kaiba wondered about this. Keeping at it wouldn't be so hard for him, it was rou– But just like back in bed, he remembered what he had promised Katsuya. And boy, Katsuya sure hated broken promises… Thus the battle between conscience and instinct began.

A twinge of worry appeared on the two yamis' faces when they saw their potential business partner avert his gaze in thought. Something wasn't going quite according to their plan; they had expected immediate approval. They exchanged another one of their understanding-without-words glances.

'_It's time for Plan B.'_

"Now, now, Priest, you're not seriously telling us that you're having a dispute with your conscience, do you?" Bakura asked in a low voice, sitting down behind Seto on the chair and putting a hand on his shoulder. He grinned evilly at the ever so slight flinch he felt at the touch.

"Why are you touching me?!"

"Think about it, Kaiba: accept our help, and you'll have the duel by the end of the week. You're so close to fulfilling your dream, so why say no to a little bit of help?" Marik added, sitting down on the other side.

Seto felt a hand touch his upper arm. "You too?!" he hissed.

"You know you want it. Just say yes, and your vision will become reality…"

Seto shot a glare at each of them, but only laid eyes on almost frighteningly smug gazes. Silently, he counted to three – _'Mustn't strangle the crazies… must stay calm…!'_ – then uttered in a strained voice:

"And what, per say, do you want in return?"

"Nothing."

This was the point where Seto figured that anyone who **wouldn't** be skeptic about that response was nothing more than a fool. Everybody knew that when making a deal, the other party did not answer with "nothing" in response to his question. It just didn't work that way! And if the other party consisted of two unpredictable ex-spirits in such a case, something **definitely** was fishy.

"Are you insulting my intelligence, by any chance?" he growled.

"Certainly not."

"…I don't believe that you don't want anything from me."

"Oh, do believe that; we insist. Think about our offer for a while, if time is what you need. We will ask you later on, but then you must have made a decision." They both gave him what could be considered an encouraging pat along with their trademark wicked grins, then they stood up and left Seto to give thought about their proposal.

Bakura and Marik's return to the larger part of the group made the others wrap up their spontaneous pep-talk, and while those among them who had put on some sunscreen during the session ran off to the beach, Katsuya went back to Seto.

"You look mildly troubled," was the first thing he said.

"Hmm? Oh, it's nothing. Really," Seto replied and looked to the ocean, where Mokuba and Noa were already doing some wave-jumping.

Katsuya shrugged. "If you say so." Humming a melody under his breath, he took the tube with sunscreen and made a long white snake on each of Seto's arms. He giggled when the brunet sucked in his breath with a hiss.

"Damn, that's cold!"

"Of course it's cold, it always is! When was the last time you used sunscreen?"

"Search me." A soft sigh escaped him when Katsuya began to spread the whiteness, by and by destroying the snakes he had made and thoroughly enjoying this voluntary act of his. To his own slight surprise, he was actually giving the Psycho Duo's offer some serious thought – so serious, in fact, that he took no notice of the pleasant breeze that ruffled his brown hair, and he didn't hear Katsuya's voice anymore. This state lasted for about two minutes before a persistent tapping on his shoulder plus the repeated call of his name somehow brought him back.

"What?"

"Ah, you're back again! I was about to call Houston and tell them that we have a problem," Katsuya joked, "Anyway, I told you to relax! Sometimes I really want to know what's making you think so hard – while you're **on vacation**, of all times…" The blond trailed off with a headshake and managed to keep hold of Seto's attention for a moment longer as he drew a large "s" on Seto's chest and stomach.

"Still cold…!"

"It's still the same sunscreen as it was two minutes ago. Now relax like I told you to," Katsuya asked of him before he began distorting his artistic "s".

Hand in hand, Marik and Malik headed for the beach. The darker one of the two winked at Seto as they passed them, and as a result, the recently made offer hogged all of Seto's attention. Had he been a computer, his CPU would have been at 100 percent. Like last time, however, the task manager was activated and took care of the problem – in other words, Katsuya tapped him again, but this time on the forehead.

"Is anybody home?"

"What?" he asked, wagging his head.

"Geez, you've almost got me worried. Seto, dear, I told you to **relax**. Do me and yourself that favor now, hmm?"

Okay, so that meant that Katsuya had tried to regain his attention several times before resolving to the tapping method. The most obvious hint that made Seto arrive at that conclusion was the "dear": he was only addressed like that when he had been unrightfully ignoring the other. The first time he had been called that, Katsuya had explained matter-of-factly:

_"Since you don't want to be called like that in a purely affectionate way except maybe once in a blue moon, I shall use it in that context…"_

"Sorry, puppy. I didn't mean to annoy you," Seto apologized with a sigh. Sometimes he really cursed himself for giving certain things too much thought in inappropriate situations.

"You're **worrying** me, if anything. Looks like I'll need to take other measures to stop you from drifting away again." Now grinning with anticipation, Katsuya made a quick move and put a blotch of sunscreen on Seto's nose.

The CEO narrowed his eyes. "Am I your personal drawing board, Katsuya?"

"What do **you** think?" was the immediate retort.

"I think that if I am, then you are the same for me," Seto answered before gathering up a large part of the whiteness on his nose and smearing it onto Katsuya's forehead.

"Aha, the dragon has decided to fight the brave knight!" his lover exclaimed and helped himself to more sunscreen, which adorned Seto's cheeks a moment later. Soon thereafter, he was being pinned down and gave a squeal of laughter when the white coldness landed on his stomach as well.

"Ack! Oh God…!"

"Fighting fire with fire, my favor," Seto smirked.

"You haven't taken me down yet," Katsuya declared, making a grab for the tube of sunscreen, the main weapon that was desired by both sides.

"That can be changed," was the simple reply before Seto claimed the other's lips in a kiss, at the same time fighting another battle with his right hand against the left hand of the other body. Somewhere along the line, they must have put some pressure on the tube; when Katsuya suddenly felt coldness on his fingers, he clumsily tried to smear it into Seto's face while he unsuccessfully tried to avoid twitching whenever the other man gave him gentle pinches in exactly the right spots. After barely three minutes of this playful combat, both of them looked weirdly like Indians who had applied their trusty war paint.

"Seto, stop… I surrender, I surrender!" Katsuya squeaked breathlessly, trying to ward off the hand that had sneakily decided to poke his middle over and over again – and Lord, he sure was sensitive there…

"Thus the dragon is triumphant again," Seto said with a laugh as he helped Katsuya sit up again. Noticing how intently he was being studied, he returned the scrutinizing look. "Let me guess: there's something on my nose?" he asked sarcastically.

"Not only there. You know, I could probably be the next Picasso."

"If so, then **I** could as well," Seto told him confidently, crossing his arms.

"You think so?" Katsuya quickly went to Mokuba's chair, where he dug out the camera from the depths of the teen's beach bag. One self-portrait later, he walked back, looking at the picture. "Hmm… okay, yeah, not bad. Hey, what d'you think of **my** work?"

"Don't –" Seto began, but it was far too late: he could see Katsuya's finger push the button, and so yet another picture that featured him when he was unprepared got stored on the memory card. Unbeknownst to the billionaire, all pictures like that were stored in a secret folder on both Mokuba and Noa's computers while Seto continued believing that they had complied with his request that such files would get deleted.

"You make some really funny faces when you're not prepared, did you know that? These are the moments when we get to see the real you!" Katsuya sniggered and handed over the camera.

"…I can only imagine how much the press would be willing to pay for a picture like this," Seto remarked dryly after a moment.

Katsuya gave him his best grin. "How about one more picture of both of us and then we get a move on?"

"Thanks for the warning, I guess," Seto muttered as the blond lowered himself onto his lap and put one arm around his neck while the other held up the camera.

"If you're gonna look like that on the picture, I'll make a face."

"The usual, in that case."

"Bingo."

A couple of minutes later, the last bits of sunscreen had been spread out, and Seto and Katsuya went to join their friends in the ocean. Mokuba's camera was back in its original place, complete with its newest addition: Seto, wearing one of his distinctive, small smiles and holding Katsuya, who mimed having feathers on the back of his head and was pretending to make an Indian's call. Winnetou and his stuntman…

* * *

(1) That was my bro's adventure. I was beyond impressed when he had the courtesy to actually tell me about it :D

(2) Those swatters are fun... we had one a while ago. I kinda miss it, but hey, I'm glad to have a swatter at all... _(grumbles about pesky flies)_

Well, that was that. Please, tell me what you think, I do appreciate it :)

On the bright side, I have been told that because I'm going to drop out of college, I get to pick whether I want to take the tests or not. I'll take a few, but I definitely will have more free time during the upcoming weeks than I had originally thought I would. Hence, I should be able to update before my little wisdom teeth session. I owe that favor to you guys - your reviews never fail to make my day!

So until next time, bye bye! _(waves happily)_


	7. Chapter 7

Yay, I managed to meet my deadline of updating within two weeks! Unless I'd suddenly have a major case of inspiration and lots of time at hand, that's going to be my standard update rhythm, okay?

Yes! Yes! I've had all the official hours of school now, and after the tests, I'll be free! I can already smell the sweet scent of liberty...! But I can't complain; I've got two weeks until the tests, so I can already start messing up my sleeping pattern! :)

Now, I know this is a very long chapter - my longest so far - but I hope it does entertain you anyway! Having said that, all that's left to say is: onwards with the story!

(Warning: some elements you will come across might not seem to make much sense, but I just need them like that for stuff I want to include in the... er... plot, if one can call it that!)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the songs/movies that are mentioned!

* * *

"Hey, why didn't anyone tell us that they've even got a boat here?!" Bakura demanded.

"You didn't ask. And besides, what's so interesting about a boat?" Mokuba asked.

After a fair amount of fun in the ocean and the tide had begun to go out, those of them who still wanted to swim had moved to the pool. It was the first time that the Psycho Duo actually took the time to look around more closely in that area, and now they had spotted a large wooden boat at one side of the pool. In their opinion, it looked like some kind of artifact that was put on display – and displayed artifacts weren't supposed to be touched, which would mean yet another opportunity to break the rules (because, so they claimed, that's why they existed in the first place).

"Ah, you see, for **you**, it might not seem to be an interesting thing," Marik answered, "But for **us**, it is full of potential. You could make a ghost ship out of it, for example, and creep everyone out."

"A ghost ship…?" The raven-haired teen cast a disbelieving glance at the boat. It even had a hole in it on one side. An extreme makeover would be in need to create such an effect, and the ghost crew sure wouldn't consist of many members, if there even would be any aside from the captain.

"Or you could use it for body disposal," the Egyptian said, offering an alternative.

"Marik, that's it! We could get rid of the Pharaoh like this!" Bakura exclaimed excitedly, "All we'd have to do is to put him out of action, then we'd put him in this boat and use our awesome powers to make it float out to the open sea – and when it's far away, we could find a way to set it on fire!"

"I know you guys want to get rid of him, but that you would actually go so far as to **kill** him… gee…" Noa tapped his chin thoughtfully.

The yamis shrugged and snorted. "Knowing the bloody Pharaoh, he'd get out of it anyway! Somehow, he **always** does. We just continue doing our job of pissing him off by any means necessary."

"Oh, okay. Did you see 'First Knight', by any chance, Bakura?" the teal-haired Kaiba brother asked. (1)

"Yes. I was very bored one evening, and so I watched it with Ryou."

"That's where you got the idea from, then?"

"…Yeah…"

"What is he talking about?" Marik asked.

"To put it in an abridged way: a king dies, and that's how his faithful followers bury him, so to speak," Bakura answered, speaking very fast.

"Aha. Hey, then we'd even have the perfect excuse if we'd execute a plan like that!"

"Hey, yeah! But we couldn't exactly be called 'faithful followers'…"

"True, very true. That would be an insult!"

"You could really write a book about them, couldn't you?" Noa asked Mokuba while the other two performed their usual evil laugh.

"A book? A multi-volume encyclopedia would be more like it," his brother replied, sweatdropping.

On the other side of the pool, Seto was sitting at one of the tables close to the bar, doing some work on his laptop. He had actually been surprised that Katsuya hadn't said anything against that, but the blond had explained that since he had already endured so much, complaints wouldn't be lodged – unless he would end up spending too much time on the computer, that was.

That was unlikely to happen, however, for Seto wasn't working half as intently as he wanted to; distraction was being provided just a table or two away. Yami was staring at the ceiling, his brows knitted in thoughtfulness and drumming his fingers on the table. But it wasn't a clueless stare, no – the brain behind them was doing some plotting, Seto was quite sure of that. At the same time, he was doing a bit of thinking himself. Perhaps he had been rushing in too much and needed to be a bit more careful about picking his opportunities to challenge Yami. Who knows; maybe the right time, the right place and the right atmosphere could make all the difference. It sounded crazy enough to actually work, Seto decided. Therefore, he had begun to turn over a new leaf in that particular part of his attitude: he would watch Yami, study him, and evaluate his observations after a while to pick the perfect time to demand what he deserved – and yet asking in-between a couple of times, naturally. After all, this wasn't supposed to be a **major** makeover…

He opened up a new Excel file and began typing. As he did, he wondered about the Psycho Duo and their offer. It did sound appealing – **anything** to get his duel, there was no arguing about that – but would he really go that low as to cooperating with two lunatics? That very expression was significant proof of what he thought about them; but on the other hand, at least one of them knew Yami from their past life, according to what the others kept trying to trick him into believing. Seto frowned. Past life… yeah right. And fairytales and myths are true, welcome to the new reality!

"What're you doing, Yami?" a dripping wet Yugi suddenly asked, approaching the table and shaking his head a bit as he went.

"Aibou… I am just trying to come up with an idea," his darker half answered, allowing himself to get briefly distracted as he watched the other sit down beside him, looking very happy and as if he were having the time of his life.

"An idea for what?"

"Revenge. Revenge for the humiliation," Yami muttered darkly.

(2) If Mokuba had thought that Seto was getting desperate because he had gotten all excited over a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, then he would be in for an even bigger surprise: his older brother's wishful thinking kicked in full-blast, and that led to the twisted conclusion that Yami was referring to the very first defeat against Seto. Plus, the brunet thought it was more reasonable to fret over a lost game than getting fruit in one's hair. So what if nobody else understood that notion of his! He hung on to it because it gave him that satisfying feeling that Yami would actually be taking him seriously (behind his back, however, his family called this a "complex")… Whatever the reason, Seto decided that the revenge indeed referred to the loss of Rock, Paper, Scissors the other night.

'_So now you know what it feels like…'_

"Oh? How serious would this revenge be?" Yugi asked.

"Quite serious. I admit that I lost that battle, but the war isn't over yet," Yami declared. Then he lowered his voice a bit and asked: "So, would you help me come up with an idea?"

"If the measures you plan to take aren't, you know, **too** drastic…" Yugi began.

"I promise," Yami said solemnly, raising one hand.

Yugi beamed happily; to him, such a promise was sufficient enough (Malik and Ryou would still have had sky-high doubts about the whole issue). After all, Yami only was trouble when he had seriously been pissed off – in this case, after his hair had received a fruity treatment other than what the shampoo commercials promised. It didn't help that Bakura had joked that it was a perfect fruit still life, either. In turn, this had led to a laughing fit from Marik as he had tried to imagine his friend wearing one of those artist's moustaches and holding a palette in one hand, painting a sulking Yami and selling the picture for big bucks afterwards…

"So, do you already have some minor ideas?"

And this is where it would get interesting, Seto thought as he pretended to be listlessly scrolling through a document. When someone was plotting against you, it was quite helpful to know about the plans beforehand so you could put a spoke in their wheel before going into the offensive yourself.

"Psst!" Yami whispered and beckoned his lover to lean closer, "Even the walls have ears…!" He looked around quickly, then proceeded to tell Yugi what his mind had thought about so far.

If **that** gesture wasn't suspicious, then there was no such thing as a suspicious gesture at all, and it made Seto narrow his eyes as he saw his presumption confirmed some more. This certainly added some spice to the whole chill-out-and-relax vacation attitude he was supposed to take up: secrecy, plotting and maybe intrigues. First a battle of the wits, and then, in the end, one of the cards –

"Jou! Jou! Come quick! This is very important!" an excited squeal pierced his thoughts, and Seto looked over at the pool.

Anzu stood at its edge and was practically hopping up and down with excitement. Katsuya had only just climbed out of the water when the brunette had already grabbed his arm and was dragging him along as he almost fell on his face.

"Whoa, Anzu, what's with the rush…?!" her friend exclaimed.

"Come **on**!"

"Anzu sure has her ways when she is excited… I hope Jou doesn't end up scabbing his knee because of that," Yami remarked.

"I wonder what she needs him for… Anyway: Yami, why don't you come swim with us a bit? You will think up some ideas in time, maybe you just need a break now!" Yugi suggested brightly.

"You think so?" When his lighter half nodded eagerly, he shrugged and stood up. "Okay, I guess. Let's go." He took off his Puzzle and walked over to Seto, who quickly pretended to be working. "Hey Kaiba, can you hold on to this for me until I'm back? Thanks!"

"Yami, wait –" Seto began, but the Pharaoh had already turned around and taken Yugi's hand as he headed for the pool. "Hmpf… you're welcome," the CEO sneered sarcastically as the other two hopped into the water at one dash. With a sigh and a shake of his head, he regarded the Puzzle that had been deposited next to his laptop. For a while, he just stared at it, then he poked it once.

'_And he honestly believes that this ancient piece of junk helps him win his duels?! Laughable! That's why I must beat him – I'd show him that duels are won by pure power, strategy and determination and not by relying on something that is associated with the m-word. Just you wait and see, Yami… we'll see who __**really**__ is the better one…'_

It fueled his desire even more, and for some reason, he also regained the confidence he had lost after his loss at War. He simply **had** to have that victory in the bag – he was Seto Kaiba, and he refused to let fate toy around with him like this without showing it who the master was around here! Having decided that once and for all, he gazed thoughtfully at Marik and Bakura, who had made themselves comfortable in the old boat and burst into song at that moment:

"Row, row, row your boat, roughly down the stream; merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a scream!"

Seto shook his head at this – how typically Bakura and Marik! They had to be the most reliable people on the planet when it came down to "evil-izing" things… As he continued to watch them just a moment longer, they sang their little song spoof all over again, this time with the supporting vocals of Noa and Mokuba.

"Bakura, come down from there!" Ryou called.

"Why? This is fun! I get to be captain of my own ship!"

"Don't you think you've already done enough mayhem by wrecking the buffet this morning?"

"Hey, don't give **him** all the credit!" Marik protested.

"Credit?!" Ryou repeated incredulously.

"They've got a system, you know. Poetic justice for every crime they commit together," Malik explained.

"And you support that?!"

"Remember what I told you just a few hours ago."

"But… but…"

Bakura and Marik had been watching this tiny dispute and decided that it was time that they fought for their belief, and they never shied away from a fight, be it a serious or playful one.

"This is it, faithful crew! Abandon ship!" Marik called and jumped out of the boat, landing right next to his hikari, who giggled as he got doused by a miniature tidal wave.

"You practically **asked** for it, Ryou! Cannonball!" Bakura yelled and sent a fountain skywards as he splashed into the pool. When he resurfaced with that insane, predatory look on his face, Ryou paled and tried to wade away as quickly as he could.

"Oh no, what have I done?! Dear Lord, it's me again, Ryou! I know it has been a while…!" he muttered desperately and raised his eyes to the heavens above.

"Swim, Ryou, swim!" Yugi cheered his friend on.

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" the Briton replied, looking quite amusing with his frantic attempts to quickly put a decent distance between him and his yami.

"Water fight!" Marik announced and dunked Malik, whose laughter quickly became a gurgling.

"Men overboard!" Noa and Mokuba cried as they too joined the gang and took on Mai.

"You're next, Pharaoh! Prepare to perish!" Bakura spoke in a grand manner before pouncing on Ryou, who managed half a cry before he was plunged beneath the surface and got engaged in an underwater wrestling match with Bakura.

"We'll see about that. Well, aibou, it looks like we're left with no other choice but to fight," Yami said grimly.

"It'll be the second one today for you… suppose they're trying to set a new record?" Yugi grinned as he watched Bakura finally resurface, holding a gasping Ryou in his arms and looking very pleased with himself.

"A record for the most fights picked on one day? Hmm, yes, that sounds like an arrant psycho to me," Yami agreed, nodding in agreement. Some ways away, Bakura dived under, and Ryou immediately got ambushed by Malik.

Yugi opened his mouth to say something more, but Yami cut him off with a yelp as he was knocked backwards by a shadow that had approached him underwater. "Yami!" A second later, he vanished from view too as he went to assist his darker half.

Still in the safe, dry area of the bar, Seto gave silent thanks that he fortunately hadn't been invited or forced to participate in that… **activity**. Putting down a few notes in the Excel file, he caught himself wondering once more about what had excited Anzu so much. He glanced at the clock, which now read noon. Knowing Katsuya, whose stomach could also be described as an internal clock, he would probably find out very soon anyhow…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

At lunch, the news was revealed.

"Guys, have we got news for you!" Anzu announced a while after they all had gotten their food.

"It's raining men, hallelujah…!" Katsuya began to sing. (3)

Seto shot him an incredulous look while Anzu reached around Mai and slapped him on the back of his head.

"Not quite, you joker. Anyway, it's much better than that: we're going to go on a safari!"

"Ooh, that sounds exciting!" Mai exclaimed happily.

"You mean we'll get to see real wild animals and stuff?" Mokuba asked. When the girl nodded, he high-fived Noa. "Cool!"

"Will there be any ferocious, man-devouring beasts?" Bakura and Marik asked eagerly.

"Maybe, but no fights for survival or actual hunts, sorry guys," Katsuya grinned, rubbing the spot Anzu had hit.

"Aww…" they pouted.

"When will this take place?" Ryou asked interestedly.

"Next Monday. It'll be for three days – I can barely wait!"

A nerve beneath one of Seto's eyes twitched, and he put a hand on Katsuya's shoulder, staring straight ahead.

"Puppy, could you repeat that for me, just so I can be absolutely sure that my hearing didn't deceive me?"

With a delighted facial expression that easily rivaled Anzu's, Katsuya answered: "We're going on a three-day safari next week."

"All of us?"

"…Um, yeah; why do you ask?"

"No particular reason."

That actually was a small fib, but Seto found that he had other worries as his tiny glimpse of the nearest future became a full-fledged horror vision: three days on the road, jammed together in another one of those evil little vans on what could only be **another** bumpy road that was probably in an even **worse** condition than the one they had been on so far. Trapped with Bakura and Marik and their absurd wishes of doom that should befall them. Ruthlessly exposed to more banging-his-head-against-the-van-roof. Wasn't that just peachy?

Perhaps his first anniversary would also be his last.

"Seto? You don't look so good…" Katsuya said when he saw a nerve twitch again noticeably just beneath one of the other man's eyes.

"…I'm fine, Katsuya. I just remembered something important that needs to get done afterwards," Seto told him as calmly as he could.

The blond was skeptic for a moment, but then he shrugged. "Oh well… if you say so…"

"If Nii-sama is fine, then I'm the President of the United States," Mokuba muttered, picking at his fish filet.

"Mokie for President!" Noa cheered under his breath.

"Yeah right. That won't ever happen. Maybe Anzu should have been a bit more indulgent with news like that…"

"He'll survive. Aside from the usual things, I don't think there's anything in this world that Seto wouldn't survive."

"Except getting locked in a room and being forced to watch cartoons."

"Did that ever happen?"

"Not exactly, but once, he walked in on Jou and me when we were watching SpongeBob – you know, the episode with that funny, high-voiced song – and he got a pretty similar look," Mokuba remembered.

"Man, I really missed out on some good stuff," Noa sighed, crossing his arms.

By the time some of them had dessert, Seto seemed to have recovered a bit as he watched Katsuya fiddle around with a piece of cake.

"Puppy, didn't anyone ever tell you not to play with your food?" he asked teasingly.

"I'm not **playing** with it; I'm just eating it properly! The crumbs are the best part, and you always save the best part until last."

Little did Katsuya know that this would be the last time he would follow that principle during this vacation: he had just scarfed down almost all of his cake and attempted to take a sip of juice before pitching into the crumbs when a monkey startled the living daylights out of him: the primate jumped onto the table from nowhere, it seemed, then it made a dash for a particular plate. When he suddenly had a furball taking up his field of view, Katsuya yelped, and as he recoiled, his chair tipped backwards and fell to the floor with a crash.

"Jou!"

"Oh my God!"

"Go on, scram!" Mai brandished her napkin at the monkey, managing to successfully shoo it away.

"Katsuya, are you alright?" Seto asked concernedly, offering his hand to help him up.

Slightly dazed, the one in question accepted the help and grunted with pain as he straightened again. While Seto put an arm around his waist for support, he blinked as he looked at the table. Noticing a difference, he stuck out his lower lip in an unhappy pout and made the sad puppy-eyes as well.

"Jou…?" Yugi questioned.

Seeing a table full of concerned gazes directed at his partner, Seto decided to look for himself, and he didn't like what he saw. This was not the adorable, begging look even though the puppy-eyes were evident – no, this was the pure look of disappointment and ruefulness…

"What's wrong?" he whispered.

Katsuya looked him straight in the eye with that gut-wrenching look and whined: "It… it stole my crumbs!"

Most of them reacted to this by means of an anime fall. Bakura and Marik firmly pressed a hand over their mouths and additionally pinched their noses to withhold their laughter. Seto got a small sweatdrop and a rather lopsided smile on his face as he patted Katsuya's shoulder comfortingly.

"There, there, pup… you can always get another piece…"

"Remind me not to eat cake that way anymore as long as we're here," Katsuya muttered as he stared miserably at the pathetic few crumbs that were littered around his plate. "Aw, man, why did it have to be the best part…?!"

"It looks like even monkeys won't settle for second best," Seto guessed.

"I'll be super-mega-careful next time… Quit laughing already! You wouldn't be happy either if it would happen to **you**!" Katsuya exclaimed, seeing how Marik and Bakura were red in the face from their struggle. The words had only just left his mouth when the two yamis finally gave up and doubled over with laughter – to them, the overturned chair had already been priceless, and the puppy-eyes because of stolen crumbs had been the icing on the cake… (4)

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

_Pfoom!_

Hoots and hollers drifted from the beach to the hotel grounds. Seto paused his typing for a brief glance at the time. Wouldn't they ever get tired of it?

"Ryou…" he began.

The white-haired Briton was on the other side of the table and had bedded his head on his crossed arms. Half a cup of tea stood in front of him.

"What, Kaiba?" he asked warily.

"I know they said that they would want to shake this place up, but this is ridiculous. It has been three hours –"

"Two of which I spent apologizing for this and that and everything. It's all I can do, sorry to disappoint you." A sigh. "They've probably booby-trapped half the beach by now…"

"You mean you would have to rely on them as if they were Gollum in the damn swamp if you don't want to lose a leg?!"

"You saw 'Lord of the Rings'?" Ryou wondered, finally looking up. He appeared to be pretty exhausted.

"Yes; imagine that. …At least it wasn't a **complete** waste of my time," Seto added before resuming his typing.

Ryou smiled at that and sipped his tea before answering: "I do hope it's not **that** exaggerated; still, I'd ask them before you go for a stroll."

"Wonderful, just wonderful. Sometimes I really wonder how you manage to put up with him."

Bakura's hikari sighed again and murmured: "Sometimes I do too…" He was talking more to himself rather than to anyone else, yet Seto didn't overhear that, and like yesterday, a small spark of concern came up within him. Before he could give it much thought, however, Ryou yawned, looked around and blinked.

"…Remind me again why there seem to be an awful lot of people here…"

"They're here for the aerobics," Seto answered.

"Guess they can't pack all of them onto the floor at the same time."

"I think your exhaustion is having an effect on your thinking; they're not here to **do** aerobics…" the CEO explained.

A small group of young men passed their table just then, and all of them wolf-whistled. Ryou cocked his head and observed the group that had gathered around the animator. In the back of the group, Katsuya, Yugi and Yami were participating as well, though the Pharaoh looked as if he were asking Yugi quite a few times if he "wasn't feeling somewhat… strange". Katsuya wore his usual goofy smile and was having a great time – for him, it was like the warm-up of gym class back in high school. Anzu and Mai were getting the most attention and easily made any woman jealous who caught her husband or boyfriend taking a peek at them. The way especially Anzu went about this fitness session, one would have said that the others were clearly tiring in comparison to her. And the men… well, the men simply were spellbound by the very appealing physical appearance of her and her girlfriend.

"I wish they would give me some of their energy," Ryou mused, "Oh look, there's Noa!"

Indeed, the teal-haired Kaiba brother was at the nearby bar and in the process of collecting four bottles of Coke. As he turned around to leave, he caught Ryou's eye, and so he made a quick detour.

"Hi guys! Looks like you've got one big show going on here!"

"A show of voyeurs, but not much more. And where are you off to with all that Coke?"

"Well, I would've gotten something different, but since you made sure that Mokie and I would be tagged as 'underage', I didn't have any other choice –"

"Noa…"

"I know, I know, it's for our best. I'm also getting them for Bakura and Marik; they want to see who can get all the bubbles up their nose the quickest."

Seto interrupted his typing again and gave his brother a scrutinizing look. "You haven't been participating in this madness that has been going on all afternoon, have you?"

"Madness? What madness?" Noa asked innocently.

"Explosions followed by maniacal laughter, for instance," Seto snorted.

"Oh, **that**. It's nothing big."

"Bakura hasn't killed anyone yet, right?" Ryou asked, finishing his tea.

"Not that I know of. And even if he did, then it was only a couple of crabs or something."

"Please let it happen that he got rid of lots of energy…" Ryou muttered a prayer.

"I think he did say that he would want to get a couple hours of sleep tonight," Noa said helpfully. His gaze flickered to the computer screen, and he raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing, Seto?"

"Something important."

"But I don't think –"

"But I **do**. Now go on before they'll start missing their drinks," Seto interrupted in a tone of voice that said: "This subject is **over**."

Noa rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Yeah, yeah… see you later, Seto. You too, Ryou."

"Get back in one piece," his friend wished him.

Noa showed him the victory sign, then went back to where he had come from while he silently began to question his brother's sanity.

Not long thereafter, the fitness session was over, and while Anzu and Mai stayed behind for a word with the animator, the others returned to Seto and Ryou.

"And you say that people should do that at the beginning of every gym lesson, aibou?" Yami asked.

"Yeah. But hey, everyone else looks just like you do, so there's no need to feel strange!"

"I'd be dead now if I had participated as well," Ryou mused, supporting his head with one hand.

"I wonder how much more it will take before that tomb robber sees what he's doing to you," Yami frowned.

"Yami…"

"No protesting! You need rest, and you need someone who will be here for you during that; he needs to reset his priorities at least a bit!"

"Mmh… okay, but let me sleep over it first," Ryou agreed and stretched.

Deciding that he really wouldn't get any farther at this point, Yami shot a glance at Yugi, a glance that clearly conveyed the message that they would need to have a talk later on.

"Ah, that felt good! So, are you done with your work?" Katsuya asked hopefully as he sat down next to Seto.

"Yes, except maybe a few finishing –"

Curious as he was, Katsuya leaned over to get a good look at the screen. Before Seto could initiate protest, the blond sat straight again and stared at him in utter disbelief.

"…What?" the brunet asked defiantly.

"You have got serious issues, my friend."

"And you're saying that because…?"

"Oh, that's nothing new; **everybody** knows that Kaiba has issues," Yami interjected.

"I'd watch my mouth if I were you," Seto warned him.

"What are you talking about, Jou?" Yugi asked.

Katsuya had already opened his mouth to answer when Anzu whooped in the background, and she and Mai dashed over to them.

'_Incoming…'_ Seto thought before he saved his work and closed the laptop for good measure. Katsuya never got around to giving his answer, for when the two women joined them, the conversation went into another direction.

"Guys! Guys! I just asked that man, and he said that I may take on his role someday!"

"Way to go, Anzu!" Yugi commented.

"Will you be with us again then?" Mai asked.

"Oh, please say yes! It would be even better with the support of my friends!" Anzu chimed in.

Now, those among them who had already done warm-ups and such with Anzu before knew that the girl's way of doing it could also be considered half a dancing lesson too, but in any case, one felt plenty warmed-up (and tired) afterwards. It simply was a question if one could (and was willing to) provide the required energy.

Katsuya shrugged. "Count me in."

"Yay! Yugi, Yami, what about you?"

"Um… yeah, sure…" _'I'll see if I can keep up, that is,'_ the shorter one of the star-haired duo added in his thoughts.

"If we get to stay in the back again…" Yami trailed off. Anzu beamed, looking as if Christmas had come early.

"And you, Ryou?" Mai posed the question, putting a hand on his shoulder in a friendly gesture.

He appreciated that by smiling politely at her. "I bet it would be fun. Okay, I'm in as well."

"D'you think Bakura would participate too?"

Ryou got a very vacant look when he heard that. "…Oh… oh dear… could **you** ask him? I'd like to keep my head a while longer, thanks."

"Did I say something wrong?" Mai inquired, waving a hand in front of his face.

While the blonde tried to get through to Ryou (who was imagining all the ways Bakura would say "no"), Anzu opened fire at the only one left.

"And you, Kaiba? They do say the more, the merrier…"

"You **can't** be serious," he told her decidedly.

"Please?"

"What do **you** think?" he shot back, crossing his arms.

"Pretty please?"

"…You're really serious?"

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

Seto quickly looked away – and not a second too soon, for it was then that Anzu brought forth **her** pleading look, though hers looked more as if she were saying: "Please say yes, it would mean the world to me and I would worship you forever!" Therefore, it certainly wasn't the same as Katsuya's begging look, for instance, but it tended to have the desired effect on people plenty of times.

"You had better say something quickly, Seto," Katsuya advised him and lowered his voice as he added in a horrified whisper to strengthen the effect: "Or do you want her to give you a speech on why you should say yes? A speech full of friendship and all that goes with it?"

"Oh, yuck… curses… Alright, alright! Look, Anzu, I would rather not. I'm not the type of guy for activities like that," Seto finally answered.

"Nonsense, Kaiba! Are you trying to tell me that you're not self-confident enough?" Anzu joked.

"No. The day I'll do that is the day when the Psycho Duo does it as well."

"Hmm…" Anzu murmured, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

Amazed that she might even be contemplating whether that could be arranged or not, Seto stood up and sighed. "Puppy, I don't know about you, but for my part, I shall go back to the room now; I need a bit of peace and quiet before dinner."

"Peace and quiet?" Katsuya repeated as he stood up too.

"Yes, peace and quiet. As in: no more explosions and crazy laughter."

"Aha. See you guys later!" Katsuya called to the others, who waved at them before they left. As the couple headed back to the room, he continued: "I'm cool with all that, but first, you and I need to have a **serious** talk."

"What in the world did I do now?"

"Playing dumb really won't work; not this time."

"Come now, Katsuya, I'm just taking precautions."

"Hey, I know you usually have good reasons for taking them, but… but…!"

"But what?" Seto prompted him.

Katsuya gesticulated wildly as his speech failed him for a few moments before blurting out: "For goodness' sake, don't you think a last will and testament is a bit exaggerated?!"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Later on, Yami was about to hang up his and Yugi's wet clothes to dry when he noticed two shadows sneaking towards the residence of the Kaiba family. He knew only two people who sneaked around like that, so he said loudly:

"And what might you two be up to again?"

"Geez, aren't two guys allowed to visit a friend of theirs?" Marik retorted.

"Friend? You're not friends with Kaiba, as far as I can tell," Yami snorted.

"Oh, what do **you** know about it, baka Pharaoh?"

"I am an observant person, that's all there is to it."

The other two gave a bark of laughter before Bakura made a dismissive gesture. "Thanks for the amusing interlude; now if you'll excuse us, we need to throw stones at the Priest's window!"

"You're really looking for trouble… you would put your mother to shame."

"For your bloody information, Mr. Tutti-frutti: my mother loved me very much!" Bakura spat.

"**What** did you just call me?!" Yami exclaimed.

"Tutti-frutti, tutti-frutti!" the other two chanted, making some clearly mocking gestures.

"Isn't that a song?" Marik suddenly asked Bakura.

"What? Why the hell would someone call a song 'Tutti-frutti'?!"

"Search me…"

"Where the heck did you hear about that, anyway?"

"I think my Hikari had watched something on TV."

"Really? Then what the hell did he watch…?"

"Hey, you can't just ignore me like that!" Yami interrupted.

"Watch us," the other yamis replied in unison.

"Idiots…" Yami muttered to himself before saying normally again: "Didn't you say you were here for a **reason**?"

"Oh yeah, that's right! Damn tutti-frutti –"

"What's going on, Yami? I haven't heard you cussing like this in quite a while," Yugi remarked, stepping out onto the balcony as well (of course, he was referring to what he heard through their mind-link).

"We've got visitors… sort of," the Pharaoh explained, pointing at the ground.

"We're here for the Priest, not you two!" Marik corrected.

"They're going to throw stones at his window… so old-fashioned," Yami ended with a sigh.

"What d'you mean, 'old-fashioned'? Don't mock us by claiming that you know a better way!" Bakura jeered.

"Actually, I do. Kaiba's sixth sense comes pretty much in handy for it," Yami answered smugly.

"You mean…?" Yugi began.

"Precisely. Watch, aibou." Yami cleared his throat, and as he proceeded to demonstrate what he was talking about, neither of the two noticed how Bakura and Marik snuck away as silent as shadows, grinning mischievously. "You know, I think I could do well with a **duel** now! A **good** duel against a **worthy** opponent! But where can I find one?"

Later on, Yugi would call it coincidence, but Yami was convinced that fate itself had somehow made Seto come into view as soon as he had finished talking – they watched him approach the window and open it after saying something over his shoulder. When he looked out of it, he froze for a second when he saw Yami and Yugi watching him from their balcony.

Yami then did the next step: he waved cheerfully at the brunet. "Evening, Kaiba!"

A serious case of hopefulness came over the eldest Kaiba brother, who wondered if his "turning a new leaf" was already making an impact – after all, he **had** left Yami alone for almost the whole day… He was so surprised that the words left his mouth before he could modify them:

"Evening to you too, Yami. Now prepare to duel!"

The dark one laughed. "Sorry, Kaiba, not now. But it's a good thing you're here; you're being awaited!" He pointed to where Bakura and Marik had been standing.

Seto looked in that direction and scowled. "Very funny, Yami. And what, per say, has been awaiting me? The damn grass?!"

"What?" Yami looked over the railing. "Hey, where did they go? They were there just a minute ago…!"

"I don't know if **you** think this is all just a dumb game or something, but **I** take this very seriously! I don't know what it takes until you finally will duel me, but I will find out what that is! You can't escape! And next time, don't bother showing me grass! I know where to find it myself!"

"Kaiba, listen –"

"Talk to the hand!" Seto cut him off, holding up his hand and looking away.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence in the air, then Seto mumbled something before retreating from the window and closing it. Yami growled and called loudly:

"Bakura! Marik! Curse you, you morons!"

"Yami, calm down…" Yugi piped up.

In the bushes not too far away, the other ex-spirits waited until their favorite person to annoy was back in his room before giving each other a high-five.

"Perfect! Just like we had planned it…!"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Dinner was far less eventful than lunch, though Bakura and Marik considered the verbal tennis at the other end of the table quite entertaining: Yami was doing his very best to convince Seto that no, he hadn't been making fun of him when he had appeared to have pointed to a totally random spot in the grass, and no, he didn't think he had made it worse by denying him a duel. And like he had done before already, he silenced Seto's protests instantly by reminding him of the dance he was waiting for.

"You're crazy! **I'd** lose my dignity, and what would **you** lose?" Seto had asked.

"My title – and assuming that that would happen, I think your dignity would be restored plentifully," Yami had pointed out.

"… …Actually, that's a pretty good point…"

"Jou, you'll keep an eye on Nii-sama too, right?" Mokuba asked with quite some concern when they went back to the recreational area around the pool for this evening's showtime, which would be traditional African dances with the matching clothes and requisites.

"Because of the whole testament thing? Aw, don't worry, I bet it's just his way of dealing with unfamiliar situations like this. I think the whole safari news really finished him off," Katsuya answered with a casual grin.

"Plus, he really seems to be stressing himself out with this whole duel rhubarb. We might need to keep him and Yami apart a bit, otherwise he'll be a bundle of nerves by the end of the week," Noa figured.

"Shit, yeah… I bet this place has other special offers, though – fun stuff. He just needs to get distracted. Keep your ears open for anything other people might recommend, okay?"

"Deal," the two teens agreed right away.

Showtime began soon thereafter, and it wasn't long before Ryou and Malik noticed the absence of their counterparts.

"You don't think they will boycott this event, do you?" Ryou asked while they applauded for the dancers: men who really looked like witch doctors (just without masks) and women with colorful cotton cloths.

"No, I think setting up all those traps took its toll on them. What's more, Marik said that he wanted to get fully charged again, so to speak – he hasn't slept longer than four hours a night in a week."

"Neither has Bakura. So Kaiba wasn't that far off when he compared them to Gollum as the guide of the hobbits, only that they'd be our guide through their mine field?"

Malik grinned; he had found that comparison very amusing when Ryou told him about it. In his opinion, "Gollum" wouldn't be schizophrenic anymore, but permanently stuck with one side of his personality… "I believe that was a quite accurate guess. That would make a great dare – being a real-life minesweeper! I gotta remember **that**…!"

Ryou couldn't quite relate to his friend's excitement, and he prayed for everyone's sake that the worst thing they would stumble across would be a pit full of sea urchins, maybe even including the one that had stung Mai.

As usual, Seto sat in the back row, and he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. He almost whirled around, but since he didn't, he spared Bakura's nose a big deal of pain.

"Psst! Priest! Could we borrow you for a moment?" a voice hissed right next to his ear.

"Do not refer to me as a mere object! And I'm not a priest! Once you've taken all that into consideration, you may try again," Seto growled, turning around just enough so he could see Bakura's half-illuminated face.

Said albino's lips curled into one of his smirks as he repeated in a voice so sweet that Seto almost swore that a voice-changing device had been put to use: "Could we have a quick word with you… **please**?"

'_Did I just hear the eighth world wonder?! That word was used in its proper context, free of doom-and-death wishes?!'_ Awestruck, Seto stared at Bakura and his companion, who both had fixated him expectantly.

"Well? We said 'please', and we have been told that's the magic word!" Marik said as a friendly reminder, holding up a finger importantly.

Seto rolled his eyes upon hearing "the m-word", and he nudged Katsuya.

"I'll just be gone for a couple of minutes," he informed him, leaning over so he would be heard over the music.

Katsuya merely nodded and gave him a short kiss on the lips – it was the type of kiss that made one want more even though it was just fleeting. Seto almost regretted leaving now anyhow as he followed the other two some ways away.

"Make it quick, will you?" he asked of them.

"Your little Jou isn't running away, so chill out. Now, about our proposal… you've had all day to think, so what do you say?" Bakura retorted.

"…It is tempting, that I can't deny, but exactly how are you going to help me get my duel?" (5)

"We are going to put additional pressure on the Pharaoh – even **he** crumbles under the correct amount of it. And you, you'd need to get some control over that duel obsession of yours. Begin in small ways, try different games; games like… um… Go Fish, for example."

"Oh, come on, that's about as simple as it can get!" Seto exclaimed indignantly.

"Beginners should always 'think small'; even **you**," Marik advised him.

"Excuse me? **Beginner**?!"

"Yes, 'beginner'. So, Kaiba, make your decision already!"

Seto reminded himself that he was trying to turn a new leaf in a certain aspect of his life, and that aside from the fact that he had been pretty pissed off that Yami had seemingly wasted his time by making him look like a fool who looked wherever someone was pointing, this first "new" day had been quite successful. And with additional support…

"Fine; you've got yourselves a goddamn deal," he finally answered.

"Splendid! It's a pleasure to do business with you!" Bakura and Marik both shook hands with him and were rewarded with a few mutters from the CEO about "maybe needing professional help". As soon as they were out of earshot, they cackled and slapped each other's shoulder.

"Yes! That's it! The Priest shall get his duel… but he doesn't know that the Pharaoh shall get something in return too… and neither one knows that **we'll** bear the brunt…!"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Yugi, do you think I maybe was a bit too hard on Kaiba?"

"Because of this whole duel thing? No, I don't think so. But I do think that he's not circumspect enough with you," Yugi answered as he opened the window.

"One can probably imagine why I'm looking forward to the safari," Yami muttered and fetched a writing pad and pen before settling down on the bed.

"So, you want to work some more on that plan of yours?" Yugi concluded as he joined his darker half.

"Yes. I'll go for Bakura first. As for Marik… who knows, maybe he'll be so amused by whatever will happen that those two will end up knocking out each other's brains!"

"**Somebody** sounds hopeful," Yugi laughed when his lover grinned deviously.

"Think of the show that would be! **That** would be entertainment!"

They both laughed for a while as they imagined themselves munching on popcorn while Bakura and Marik were beating each other up in an illuminated arena with people all around hollering and betting money on who would fall first. Before anything like that could happen, however, they would need to come up with a plan.

"How about dying his hair pink?" Yami suggested, scribbling that down.

"Hmm… I can imagine that would it would have the effect you described before, but you'd be running the gauntlet to accomplish that in the first place."

"Oh yeah; the thief **is** protective of his hair… stealing his Ring wouldn't be much different, I suppose."

"He'd assault you with all he has got."

That was an understatement: the real consequence would be a rampage without the slightest compromises, but with lots of bloodshed and screams. It would be not Heaven, but **Hell** on Earth.

"By Ra… wait, let's think for a moment: what does the tomb robber really hate?" Yami wondered, sitting up.

Yugi did the same and quickly starting summing up things – that was a very easy task: "Pink, you, rules, happy holidays, you, kids, you –"

"I probably hold the 'number one' position on his list-of-things-I-hate…" Yami suddenly silenced as something came to his mind.

"Yami?" Yugi asked, carefully prodding him.

"Aibou, now I know something! **Boredom**! Bakura hates boredom; he always needs to have something going on! Now **that** is something I can really work with!"

"What's the plan?"

"Alright, here's what I'll do…" In an excited whisper, Yami told Yugi about his plan, making the shorter one giggle amusedly.

"Oh, that's so nasty!"

"He's not the only one who can be manipulative," Yami said proudly.

"I'm glad you got that out of the way – you've been on edge about that since the food fight," Yugi smiled and hugged him.

"I'm glad too. And I'll deal with Kaiba sometime later." Yami kissed Yugi affectionately on the lips. "But there are more important things now."

"I like the sound of that. And what exactly are those 'important things'?" Yugi inquired as he lightly wrapped his arms around his yami's neck.

"I'll show you," was the answer before they started kissing again, but this time more passionately. Not surprisingly, the whole business with Bakura, Marik and Seto got banished to the most faraway corners of his mind as he slowly moved on, trailing kisses down Yugi's neck; the latter slowly let himself fall down onto the sheets, all the while returning the loving gestures.

"Oh Ra, we make such a good team…" Yami sighed, reaching up again and kissing the tip of Yugi's nose.

"A dream team," his hikari added with a chuckle before reclaiming the other's lips in what would by far be not the last tender kiss they shared that night.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"I knew it. I knew it! So, you really are conspiring against me…" Seto muttered darkly. The deal with the Psycho Duo might really come in handy – their constant attempts to annoy Yami might foil any plans of revenge his rival had now apparently made with Yugi, and he would have to use that to his advantage. "Who would have thought that the shrimp would join in as well…?"

"Seto? Seto, what the heck are you doing outside with the binoculars?" Katsuya asked, stepping out of the bathroom and seeing the brunet on their balcony. That left no question why the window was open. "Do I even **want** to know?"

"Perhaps, perhaps not. I don't suppose you would believe me if I were to tell you that I'm… bird-watching, in a way?"

Katsuya raised an eyebrow. "Bird-watching? At **night**? Alright then, what birds did you see?"

Seto pondered his answer shortly as he climbed back in through the window. "…Crows," he finally said.

"Uh-huh. Strike one."

"I was on the lookout for monkeys."

"Strike two. Three strikes and you're history."

This was not going well. He usually didn't make up excuses like this, but Seto just didn't want Katsuya to get any wrong ideas. On the other hand, perhaps the concept of excuses would be even more disastrous… Figuring that since Yami had let somebody in on his little scheme, perhaps now it was his own turn to let an outsider in on this behind-the-scenes battle.

"Sit down, Katsuya; there's something I need to tell you."

"I'm listening…"

"Here's the deal." With those words, Seto proceeded to explain what he really had been watching, his suspicions about a conspiracy and his arrangement with Bakura and Marik. As he had expected, Katsuya tried to talk it out of him until the blond gave up battling Seto's stubbornness and decided that as long as he was entertained and therefore distracted from his usual vacation behavior, why not allow him that notion? Nevertheless, he couldn't shake off the thought that somewhere between their departure day and this day, at least **one** of the many fuses in Seto's brain had blown…

* * *

I hope you enjoyed this chapter - and this time, feedback will be especially appreciated! I hope it will cheer me up a bit before I get my wisdom teeth removed this week (I'm a big wimp when it comes to doctors/dentists/etc.)... _(sigh)_ A speedy recovery from that is my biggest wish at the moment. I shall return as a whole new person! _(insert chirping crickets)_ ...Okay, so that's a bit exaggerated, but I will be very happy and relieved that it's over for good! Right, then, that's all from me for the moment, folks! Till next time!

(1) Hehe, as you have probably noticed, I like making references to movies :D Man, Richard Gere was so hot in that one... _(lol)_

(2) Okay, that maybe didn't make much sense, but hey, it's called fiction for a reason!

(3) Yes, I like to make song references as well... it's just so much fun! :)

(4) Another 'Mom episode'... boy, she sure was pissed off at that monkey! Cheeky little things, they were...

(5) The answer to this doesn't make much sense now, I suppose... but the way I imagine it, it will, even if that might only be evident later on.

P.S: As usual, if you have any wishes, tell me and I'll do my best to include them ;)


	8. Chapter 8

Greetings, treasured readers! I'm back again, as lively as ever! The wisdom teeth are gone, and so are the stitches! I feel great... :) If I would have to get this done again (thankfully, that isn't possible), I know I wouldn't need to be so afraid anymore. But it's good to know that most people are nervous about it, so I don't feel half-bad about having been so apprehensive.

I had written almost half the chapter before the operation, but after that, I had to give myself a real push to get a move on with this in order to meet my deadline. Hopefully, it didn't turn out too choppy... but see for yourselves. I wish you lots of enjoyable reading...

Disclaimer: The passage from the book Seto is reading totally belongs to Stephen King!

* * *

When he woke up the next morning just before the crack of dawn, Bakura made a noise like someone dying a slow and painful death as he stretched luxuriously; then his voice turned into a dark chuckle when he cracked his knuckles.

'_Such a delightful noise… just like the one when you break somebody's neck!'_ he thought happily. The image that came up in his mind made him cackle even more – yes, he had dreamt of doing that to Yami, but then again, he wouldn't be doing himself any favor if he would make his favorite taunting victim leave the face of the Earth.

Pushing those thoughts aside for now, Bakura shifted, expecting to see Ryou beside him, still in his deep, baby-like sleep. Moments like that bore the highest possibility that Bakura would become affectionate; not lovey-dovey, but quite different from how others knew him. He would touch Ryou's hand, and then his hikari would grab it and hold on tight, getting a beautiful smile on his face. Mostly, Bakura would simply wait for him to wake up while already planning out another day that would hopefully have him saying 'man it's so good to be alive unlike **some** people I snuffed out' when it was over. Ryou especially cherished the times when Bakura would even agree to cuddle a bit (though never forgetting to make his lighter half solemnly swear not to tell a soul)…

But Ryou wasn't there. Bakura frowned and thought back. Yesterday night, he **had** been there; he would be bamboozled otherwise!

"Ryou?" he called. There was no answer.

Instead, he heard giggling drift in through the ajar window. Wondering who the hell was already up besides him, he went to the door and opened it. The source of the giggling had already passed the bungalow, but he wasn't too late to see Mai and Anzu head for the beach, one of them clutching a camera. A golden shimmer on the horizon indicated that sunrise was just about to happen.

"They get up that early to watch a bloody sunrise?! Must be some weird feminine fetish or something," Bakura muttered, shaking his head. He understood it perfectly well when someone got up that early to chase homeless people around in the park or to puncture the wheels of the neighborhood cars and thus making the workers late, sure; but to watch a sunrise? It sounded like something horribly sappy and cute to do, so of course it didn't necessarily spark Bakura's interest. Something else did, however:

When he turned around to go inside again, he spotted Ryou. His lover had pushed the two balcony chairs together and therefore created a sorry excuse for a bed. He was lying there in a slightly curled-up position and had wrapped a thin linen sheet tightly around him.

Bakura quickly looked around, and when he saw that there really was no one else around in the immediate vicinity, he knelt down and shook Ryou's shoulder.

"Ryou! Ryou! Hey, what's all this?"

The Briton stirred and mumbled a few words of protest before sleepily opening his eyes. "Mmh… not yet… just a little… longer… Hmm? Bakura?" He yawned and seemed to try to bury his face into the seat of the chair upon noticing the brightness of the sun's first rays when he had halfway sat up. "You're already up? The sun hasn't even fully risen yet…!"

"What else did you expect of me? What the hell are you doing out here, though?"

With a plaintive sigh that said enough about how comfortable his night had been, Ryou sat up and carefully began to stretch. "Kura, you were snoring loud enough to wake the dead – I couldn't possibly stay in the same room with you!"

Bakura gave him his infamous disbelieving look, like the one he always wore when Ryou accused him of crimes (which weren't really "crimes" in Bakura's eyes). "Say what?! I don't snore, Hikari, don't be ridiculous!"

"You snore. **Loudly**. You can make a chainsaw sound like a softly sung lullaby!"

"Oh, and **you** don't?" Bakura snorted.

"How should I know? I don't record us on tape when we're sleeping, for your information! I mean… Look, I don't mean to insult you, I'm just stating a fact!" Ryou argued.

"Aha. Well, let me state a fact as well: **you** talk in your sleep!"

"That's not necessarily a bad thing! Weren't you **listening**?! I just said that I don't mean to insult you!"

"Just serving up justice, don't get all in a huff! You always have such a blooming short fuse in the morning…"

"At least with **me**, it's usually **only** in the morning…" Ryou muttered. His facial expression softened again when Bakura picked him up and carried him back to the bed where he could "continue having his ruddy beauty sleep" or "play Sleeping flipping Beauty again", as his darker half tended to say with so much love in his voice that you could almost see the honey dripping off the words. People who failed to notice sarcasm got a completely wrong picture right there…

"You know, I'm very glad you asked me if I wanted to come along on this little trip; it would have been a shame if not," Bakura commented as he set Ryou down.

"You're enjoying this, then, I presume?"

"Damn right!" Taking a flying leap, Bakura jumped right over his lover and onto his half of the bed. "Somebody **did** once say that you need to live your life like you're on vacation…"

"Honestly, what do you remember about the music you listen to besides a few quotes? **Kiss** said that…"

"That could very well be. Why bother if you remember it anyway?"

"And it's not like you leave me much of another choice…" Ryou added casually.

"Did you say something, Ryou?" Bakura asked in a dangerously low voice, making two of his fingers walk up to the other's chin.

"I said I was wondering if you'd go for a walk with me along the beach," was the prompt response.

The marching fingers stopped and began to tap Ryou's chest in a gesture of thoughtfulness. "Hmm. A walk along the beach, a walk along the beach… that doesn't sound like something eventful…"

"Will you at least think about it?"

"I will, Hikari. Hey, I've just thought of something: I wanna go check if we've made any spectacular catches yet!" Bakura snickered.

"You mean you want to see if any 'mice' got caught in your traps…"

The slightly exasperated sigh that followed was all it took to tell Bakura that there had been a hidden question in the previous statement. Rolling his eyes and grinning, he voluntarily took the bait and justified himself.

"Come on, I'm just so excited! The opportunities are simply **different** here!"

Ryou made himself comfortable again, liking how the bed sank in a bit beneath him, and although it wasn't as soft as the one at home, it beat the chairs by a mile.

"When will you ever calm down…?"

"For real? Only Ra knows when. Now, I'll come back for you when it's time for breakfast; surely you'd like to stay put for a while."

"Promise?" Ryou asked, hoping to get at least a bit of shut-eye. Sleep **and** tea was the absolutely perfect combination for a good start into another day with a deranged, overexcited yami.

"Promise," Bakura confirmed and kissed his counterpart. He still didn't believe that his snoring had driven Ryou away; he believed that it might have been his nightly kicking and boxing fit, which was another one of his wonderful traits that made him the great and mighty Bakura…

Ryou smiled happily and reached out for the other, but he had only barely brushed the back of Bakura's hand as the thief left the hotel room to gather up his best friend.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Ah, is there any better way to start the day than hearing the screams of pathetic mortals begging for us to free them?"

"Were two of them Mai and Anzu? They were at the beach before you, after all…"

"No, they had barely set foot on it. They were lucky. We did catch the kid, though."

"The kid… the kid… **Oh**. **The** kid?"

"**The** kid. Bakura has practically had a field day already."

"Did you free him?"

"Yes and no. We just filled the hole up to his neck. I wonder if his mom dug him out yet."

"Let's go have a look."

Two light blond hairdos poked over the stone railing that separated the beach from the hotel grounds. About halfway toward the water, a mother plus a few other people were fretting over a boy who was still at least half-buried in the sand – and he sure didn't look very happy. He was bawling and tugged at his hair, obviously describing whom he was sure to be involved in the incident.

"Success! You know, he was really hoping that he'd catch that little brat. A moment for the movies, that's what he'd say if he were here now!"

Malik laughed loudly and linked arms with his darker half. "Do you think she'll go after him? In her own interest, she might want to give up such a thought, otherwise she might end up in the Shadow Realm."

"Speaking of which – we haven't given it any new additions recently, so it **would** make for a change…"

"I admit; I'm impressed!"

Malik and Marik wandered along the stone railing to the remote corners of the grounds, joking about this and that and admiring the beauty of the sea. After a while, they reached what looked like a small parlor of some sort. A black man sat there, watching how a family with two children was having a debate.

"…honey, that's not appropriate! You're a **girl**, after all!"

"But **mom**! I want that one!"

"And about that lovely elf?"

"Give me a break! A sword and dragon is way cooler!"

The father sighed exasperatedly. "For Chrissake, Crega, let her decide on her own! If she wants the dragon, let her have it! Heck, **I'll** pay for it!"

"But Bill, it's not a girl thing…"

"Dad, you're the best!" the teenage girl cheered.

"Geez, how long does it take to make one decision?!" her brother groaned, looking bored out of his mind.

"Whatcha doing?" Marik asked.

Everyone shifted their attention to the newcomers, and it was hard to tell if they knew exactly those two from the recent breakfast food fight escapade.

"Getting a henna tattoo," the girl answered.

"Henna? The stuff that washes off?"

"They're not old enough for the real deal yet," the woman huffed.

Just then, Malik spotted something and addressed the man: "But **that's** the real thing!"

When Marik looked as well, he wasn't at all surprised that his hikari's attention had been captured instantly: like himself, Malik was a motorcycle fan, and the tattoo he was regarding was a Harley Davidson one. An eagle, the American flag and the words of the brand, to be precise. (1)

"It sure is. Beauty, isn't it?"

"Oh yes. Do you own one?" Malik asked eagerly.

"Sure do. And you?"

"No, but I do strive to buy one someday."

"That's not setting a good example for the kids!" the woman snorted.

"What's wrong with a tattoo?" Marik asked, not understanding what the fuss was about.

"Always claiming never to get one and suddenly coming back from a business trip **with** one, for instance. And one of a **Harley**, nonetheless…!"

"Hey, lady, it could be a naked woman!" Marik grinned.

"Don't remind me," she growled.

"I just need to check on something. One moment…" Marik went back to the stone wall and looked back to where the boy was almost freed from the sand now. He could practically feel the vibes that radiated from the mother. But he couldn't feel the stares of the family after he had turned around. Therefore, he cocked an eyebrow when he faced them again and he was being gawked at like an animal in a zoo.

"What? What did I do?"

"Wow, you sure have lots of tattoos!" the man whistled. His wife just rolled her eyes.

"What're they supposed to symbolize?" the boy asked.

"Ever heard of hieroglyphics, kid?"

"Yeah. Boring old symbols only nerds can read. Who the heck would want something like that on their back? A complete weirdo, if you ask me…"

Marik scowled and regretted to have left the Sennen Rod behind (thanks to Malik). The way he saw it, he had just about found himself a "kid problem" similar to Bakura's. Luckily, Malik noticed the rather explosive potential of the situation and quickly rejoined his darker half, silently trying to tell him to stay calm.

"Whoa, you've both got the same tattoos! Are you twins?" the girl exclaimed.

"Yes… and no. It's kinda hard to explain…"

"Hikari, I should leave now before I forget myself and strangle that brat with my bare hands, which could happen any second!" Marik hissed.

Knowing that such a threat was to be taken seriously at all times, especially from his yami, Malik flashed them an apologetic smile. "Excuse us, but we must be on our way… it was a pleasure to meet you!"

"Maybe we could hang out over a beer or something sometime!" the man offered.

"Sure! See you around!" Malik grabbed Marik by the shoulders and marched him off while muttering into his ear: "Look, you know I'm not as picky as Ryou when it comes to sending people to the Shadow Realm, but strangling them would not throw authorities off your track at all! Just hold it in for a little longer!"

"I'm getting this urge again… I need to destroy something or likewise!" Marik whispered, his hands balling to fists and unclenching themselves rapidly.

Malik was mildly surprised that the term "weirdo" had such an effect on the other, but like he did with all such things, he stored this information in his mind for possible future occurrences. Right now, it was important that he took action before they would reach the first deckchairs and complete strangers would get stuck in Bart Simpson's position, but without much hope of getting away with their lives.

"How about a fight? Does a fight sound good?"

"Anything!"

"Fine! To the beach! Sand fight!" Malik commanded and grabbed Marik's hand before jumping over the stone wall and landing in the sand, where he was immediately forced to defend himself against his counterpart's tantrum. Luckily, since **he** was the "opponent", Marik would at least try to restrain part of his rage; that made the fight longer, yet it highly raised Malik's chances of survival and even lowered the bruise possibility rate…

Unbeknownst to them, the children of the family they had just met had seen them abruptly jump over the wall, and now they watched them wrestle in the sand. The brother sighed.

"Man, they're **both** weirdos! Why do those people always run into **us**, no matter where we are…?!"

"I dunno; they may be a bit weird, but who isn't? They're kinda cool," his sister replied.

"They must be related to you," was the dry response which made her cuff his shoulder, and the black man who made the henna tattoos sighed as the family began arguing all over again.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"_One of Carolyn's eyes popped out and lay on the wet sand like a blob of blueberry jelly. Bugs vomited from the now-empty socket._

_Carolyn! he screamed. Carolyn! Carolyn! Car–"_

Seto paused after finishing the sentence. He had been reading for quite a while now, so perhaps it wouldn't be asking too much of him if he would put the book aside for some time. And besides, it would be quite convenient since he had now reached a chapter-ending cliffhanger, and everyone knew that those always made you come back for more later on – and he sure as hell wanted to know exactly how the main character would react to that… dream…

Coming to a conclusion, the brunet closed the book and checked the time. It was a little past mid-morning. The day was still young… so why not make proper use of that? "Proper" being the operative word. He sat up and looked around, ready to jump at the sight of a spiky, tri-colored hairdo.

'_I just can't help it! I need to duel him __**now**__! I need to, need to, need to!'_

Part of his attitude sure was doing a persistent job of being an asshole and thus jeopardizing the plans he had made so far. Definitely a serious case of "old habits die hard"…

Unfortunately, Yami had neither heard this mental cry nor was he anywhere nearby, for a few moments later, the surge of excitement within Seto died down, and he let his shoulders sag in disappointment. How much more of this did he have to take before he would finally get what he wanted? It was not exactly in his nature to wait for such things! What a shame that Yami's dueling passion couldn't be manipulated by money – God knew that Seto had tried this on multiple occasions before, but only receiving a pitying headshake from the Pharaoh in return…

With a small sigh, Seto crossed his arms and would have vigorously denied to have borne a striking resemblance with a child that had been denied a bag of sweets, had anyone bothered to tell him that.

Katsuya was lazily sprawled out on his chair and listening to music. He was taking it easy this morning, for he had agreed to help Mokuba and Noa build the ultimate fortress in a newly-declared war against Bakura, Marik and Malik. The stakes were high: the loser team would have to submit themselves to each and every demand of the winners for an entire day. So, depending on the outcome, one might feel like a king or a slave in the aftermath. Anyways; to make sure that he would be able to lend a good hand in helping the younger Kaibas achieve that victory, Katsuya was following the concept of being lazy now and active later. Work before pleasure… or pleasure before work, whichever fit better.

His attention got drawn to Seto when he watched the latter sit up and wildly look around like a paranoid watchdog before crossing his arms and sulking in a rather uncharacteristic way. Grinning amusedly at this fact, Katsuya took off his headphones and gave Seto's side a hearty poke, just to make absolutely sure that he would get his attention.

The sound he got in reward for that action sounded suspiciously like a squeak, but even though he was his husband and could enjoy certain privileges, Katsuya decided not to comment on that noise, because Seto sure could get touchy when he got notified that his attitude had slipped in such a fashion.

"Katsuya! What the hell?!"

"Just checking on you. Man, you look as if Yami had just told you that he wouldn't duel you even if you'd go to hell and back while wearing the tutu," Katsuya answered, getting straight to the point.

"You needn't have reminded me of that last awful detail," Seto grumbled.

"Ah, so I may conclude that I am right?"

"Sort of. Geez, I just can't wait any longer! I must get this over with soon, otherwise I can't guarantee that I won't take drastic measures!"

"Don't start foaming at the mouth now… And about those drastic measures you mentioned: I think 'bird-watching' is drastic enough. You know what? You don't need **anger** management, you need **impatience** management," Katsuya told him.

"Bring it on, Dr. Freud."

"Can that wait a little longer? It'd be much more… **fun** if it were just you and me. And besides, I've got war preparations in, I dunno, half an hour or so; I gotta be absolutely fit for that."

"That ridiculous war you were talking about during breakfast? Don't tell me **you're** involved in it too!" Seto exclaimed as he lay down again.

"Of course I am!"

"…On the other hand, why am I not surprised? What's at stake again?"

"The losers have to do whatever the others want for a day."

"What?!"

Katsuya frowned a bit at the way Seto's voice rose just then. "You don't need to make such a drama out of it. They won't make me do anything stupid."

"They had better not, or else I'll –"

"Seto, they respect the fact that I'm married to you. They're not completely immoral, deranged bozos like you sometimes think they are."

"Hmm… maybe I'll have a talk with them later on, just to be sure."

The blond laughed. "If it makes you feel better…"

Seto shot him a confirming smirk before he began to stretch. Somehow, that did feel liberating… Suddenly, his hand touched something warm, and that warm something wasted no time in grabbing his hand and holding it tightly. The satisfied hum died on Seto's lips when his gaze swerved to the left. (2)

Ryou was on the chair beside him and had fallen asleep. Aside from the fact that he hadn't had much time to relax properly before Bakura had taken him to breakfast, the sound of the sea and the pleasantly cool breeze had easily lulled him to sleep. Seto must have temporarily underestimated the distance between the chairs or hadn't thought about it at all, for he had practically made half-circles with his arms as he stretched. But the albino next to him knew nothing of all this: he was simply clutching the CEO's slender hand, still far away in his dream land.

"What the…? Ryou, let go!" Seto muttered and tried to pull his hand away. To his surprise, the Briton just held it even tighter and even pulled it close to him, tucking it right underneath his chin. The smile Bakura adored very much dawned on the sleeping face again.

"Katsuya, could it be that I'm having a bit of a problem here?" Seto asked.

"Why?" His significant other sat up and ever so briefly observed the situation. Then he chuckled when he saw the slightly bewildered look in Seto's eyes. "Ah, don't worry; he always does that. Touch his hand when he's sleeping and he'll latch right onto you."

"No hopes of escape?"

"Not unless you wake him up. Is it bothering you?"

"That's a bit harsh. No, it's just… unusual," Seto answered.

"I remember the first field trip we had after he had joined our class. He was in the same tent as me, Honda and Yugi. Honda touched his hand by accident too, and the next thing he knew, he had become a lifeline's substitute. And when Anzu learned about it, she said it was uber-cute." One glance was all it took for Katsuya to tell that Seto wasn't quite sure what he should do now, so he added quietly: "Let him hold on for a while. Look how happy he is…"

"But it's so… weird…"

"You wanna hold me too?" Katsuya grinned.

Seto appeared to be considering this for a moment, then he nodded once. Not really having expected anything else, Katsuya pushed his chair a bit closer so he wouldn't risk half-falling off and getting stuck between them when he would be close to Seto. He snuggled up to him and almost instantly felt how a hand laid itself on his lower arm, from where it slowly traveled upwards until it allowed itself to get caught in his untidy hair.

"And this is really okay with you, Katsuya?" he heard the other ask.

"Sure. He's asleep, after all. It could be anyone else in your place. You shouldn't apply your usual amount of seriousness to each and every situation like this one, for instance."

There was a pause, then Seto said with a hint of ruefulness in his voice: "I know what you're referring to: that time when I saw you with Mai, right?"

"…Yes. It wasn't pleasant, yet in the end… in the end, we both learned something about each other."

As the memory got stirred up again, Seto held Katsuya much closer. It was one he disliked and liked at the same time, for it was both sad and happy. It was the first time he had admitted in someone else's presence (other than Mokuba's – Noa hadn't been with them yet at that time) that he too could be a fool sometimes.

_(flashback)_

_When he went to bed, Seto was still wearing the same mask he had worn for almost three days now: he looked mostly unaffected by everything around him, yet wisps of frustration flitted across his face. His employees were far too intimidated to ask any questions, and that was exactly what had helped most of them keep their jobs. Some hadn't been so fortunate, but everyone knew that Seto was far from caring._

_The media were thinking up all sorts of excuses for this behavior, especially since the great Seto Kaiba had actually knocked over a reporter in his hurry to get away from them; but the only people who knew the truth were Yugi & Co., Mokuba and (partially) Isono. The younger Kaiba had tried just about anything to reason with the elder, but Seto was too stubborn and hurt to let the advice get to him. At least by now, he realized that he wasn't really doing himself any favor, yet he couldn't bring himself to freely admit that he might have made a mistake and what the others had told him (or at least: __**tried**__ to) had been the truth._

_Rain beat against the windows, the drops racing each other on the way down to the windowsill. Usually, Seto would have closed the curtains before going to bed, but tonight he had simply forgotten and was unwilling to get up and change that. So he just lay there, watching the rain, trying to suppress the urge of letting his face betray him and show his real emotions. A flash of lightning lit up the room, almost immediately followed by a loud clap of thunder._

'I guess this weather could actually be described as suitable. A lousy night to end this week; how very charming,' _Seto thought. He was quite grateful that Mokuba wasn't afraid of thunderstorms anymore; he wanted to be alone now, like he had been for the past three days. He really didn't want anyone snuggling up to him right now._

_Or at least, so he __**thought**__. His heart said something different, however._

_Seto sent a death glare at the window when he fully recalled why he was so messed up in the first place. It wasn't as if this thought hadn't been bothering him permanently since Tuesday, so dwelling on it a little longer wouldn't make that much of a difference. Seto's laptop lay abandoned on the desk, which was fortunate, for now the poor keyboard finally got a break from its user's increasingly rough typing._

_All he had wanted to do was get a coffee in his favorite café after work, but he had dropped the idea as soon as he had laid eyes upon the place. From where he stood on the other side of the street, he could see Katsuya sitting inside – and he wasn't alone. Mai Kujaku was facing him, and she was crying. Her tears barely missed the coffee cup in front of her. Katsuya was regarding her with utmost pity in his eyes, and as Seto watched, he pushed the cup away from her a bit to avoid it getting knocked over and making a mess._

_Mai finally looked up and said something to Katsuya, though Seto guessed that there was a good chance that she wasn't quite succeeding in keeping her voice at a normal volume. Katsuya shook his head and gave her his best smile as he patted one of her hands. She appeared to be very grateful for that and observed the action with a look that Seto could only think of one adjective to describe: __**wistful**__. That, combined with the fact that Katsuya seemed entirely comfortable with the situation, made the brunet whirl around and drop his original intention; there was something more important to do now, and that was sorting out the flurry of feelings that had come up within him, feelings he didn't like at all._

_After making a decision on what that had all been about, he had refused to see Katsuya, confusing and upsetting him when he learned why he was being rejected like that. Mokuba had been kind enough to provide him with more accurate information on the matter instead of the simple demand for him to go. Nothing he had tried to tell Seto could reverse that wish, and when he had gone home that evening, Katsuya looked no better off than Mai earlier that day._

_For two days, Seto shrugged off all attempts of Katsuya to talk it over, not even giving in to the pleas of his younger brother, and today, on Friday, he hadn't heard anything yet from the blond whom he had decided to open up to._

'It sounds like a fucking soap opera!' _Seto thought hotly and hated himself for letting it get to him in such a strong way. But dammit, he just liked Katsuya so much…! If only he hadn't convinced himself that the other had put aside all his feelings for Mai in the meantime – everyone knew that they had had a little fling after Duelist Kingdom. It may have only been a short one, but still; it was part of his past and all the reason Seto needed to justify his actions._

_So now here he lay, alone on a rainy Friday night, and through a crack in his wall of stubbornness, his more reasonable voice was whispering to him, stirring up guilt in his conscience._

"_You probably were too rash. He told you again and again that he had just been comforting her, and so has everyone else… Would it kill you to admit that you made a mistake?" it said. The voice sounded oddly like Mokuba, and that made it even harder for Seto to ignore it._

_Outside, lightning flashed again, and when the thunder answered it, Seto almost believed to have heard a noise at his bedroom door. But he dismissed that; most people wouldn't guess so, but if he really wanted to, Seto was good at being in denial. __**Anyone**__ was if they truly wanted to._

_He had guessed wrong, however, for when the thunder subsided for the moment, he heard the soft 'click' as the door was opened. Even that was only just audible over the loud beating of the rain against the glass, though._

_Remaining as he was, facing the window, Seto expected to get confronted with another pleading speech from Mokuba; the youngster had correctly guessed that his older brother didn't go to bed earlier to actually get more sleep, and this would be the third time that he tried to use that extra time to help cleaning up the mess that had been made._

"_Kaiba?" a voice asked softly._

_His breath caught as he instantly recognized the voice: Katsuya. What was he doing here? Hadn't he told Isono that he didn't wish to be disturbed by him, that the door would be as far as he would get? Either the blond had gotten some very good advice from Bakura (who else?) on how to break into a house, or someone else had enabled this unexpected visit – and in that case, only one person could be held responsible: Mokuba. After all, Seto had sensed all too clearly that his brother had rapidly run out of patience with him…_

_After what seemed like a few minutes at least, but had only been half a minute in reality, Seto finally replied flatly: "What do you want, Jounouchi?"_

_Katsuya almost corrected him, wanted to remind him to simply use "Jou", but fitfully bit that back, deciding that it wouldn't do the situation any good. While he did that, there was a rather awkward pause until he answered: "To talk to you."_

"…_Make it quick," Seto muttered sullenly. He almost turned around to look at Katsuya, but gave himself a mental slap and concentrated on the racing raindrops again._

"_Look… Since you haven't talked to me, I don't know __**exactly**__ what you saw, but please, you gotta believe me that there wasn't anything going on between us! It was really just a coincidental meeting! She's going through very rough times, and I simply wanted to comfort her a bit!"_

"_Hmpf! And what about the way she looked at you? And you didn't do anything but give her a smile that said 'I'm just about to lose myself in her'!"_

_Clicking his tongue exasperatedly, Katsuya retorted: "That's definitely not what that smile meant! And what the hell was I supposed to do? I can't just go give one of my friends the cold shoulder! Maybe __**you**__ can do that, but __**I**__ can't! That's not what you do when you like somebody!"_

"_Aha. There, that's it: when you 'like' somebody. And that somebody happens to be your ex. Jounouchi, leave __**now**__," Seto said firmly._

"_You've got it all wrong! Kaiba, just __**listen**__ to me, dammit! I may still __**like**__ her, but I __**love**__ you! That's a difference, you know!" This had escaped his lips more loudly than he had intended to say it, and Katsuya screwed up his face in disappointment at himself. Hadn't he told himself that he would avoid yelling by all means necessary…?! Taking a deep breath to stay calm and hopefully not do anything stupid, he added: "I admit, she did reminisce a bit about… us… her and me… but I told her that I'm with you now. And she… she accepts that."_

"…_In other words: problem solved?" Seto guessed._

"_To me it is, yes. But to you… C'mon, Kaiba, I don't know what I'm supposed to say to make you see that there never __**was**__ a problem, actually! Can't you just forget it? I miss you, in case you haven't noticed!"_

_Finally, Seto couldn't take it anymore, and he rolled over. Katsuya was standing there with clenched fists and a frown that said enough in itself about how frustrated he was while his eyes mirrored his desire that the whole thing would be over with now. _

"_Oh, and you think I didn't?"_

"_Did you?" Katsuya retorted instead. He wouldn't settle for a question in response to his previous statement – that wouldn't be fair._

_The CEO rolled his eyes, and then the words simply tumbled from his lips: "Of course I did! Alright, let's make this a full-out confession, shall we? I guess I made a mistake, a hurried decision without bothering to listen to explanations that were provided! Are you happy now? I guess I really __**am**__ as darn stubborn as everyone says, and –!"_

"_Okay, okay, that's enough! I didn't wanna make you mad, Kaiba! I'm sorry!" Katsuya interrupted loudly, having heard enough. That was the closest he got to yelling that night…_

_Seto pushed himself up into a sitting position and shook his head, annoyed with himself for getting carried away so suddenly. "You don't need to say you're sorry, Jou. __**I'm**__ the one who should be saying that. __**I'm**__ sorry."_

_A decent amount of his negative attitude ebbed away when he heard the other call him like that again, and relief crept forth, relief that they were on the verge of resolving this dispute._

"_S'okay, Kaiba." A smile tugged at his lips as he said that._

"_No, it's not okay. Not yet. I was a fool," Seto sighed._

_Katsuya was almost rendered speechless by that last sentence; he had never before heard Seto Kaiba admit that he was a fool as well at times. The way he occasionally acted, one almost guessed that he was more than just a human and probably far from committing foolish actions. The blond guessed that if he were to tell anyone what he had just heard, 99 percent of them would declare him a liar, that he had just made that up. But he would know the truth._

"_It's okay," he simply repeated._

_Seto cracked a small smile and beckoned Katsuya over, which the latter gladly did. In a matter of seconds, their lips met in a tender kiss. __**Now**__ it was okay…_

"_You know, I'd hate to send you away into that rain out there, and I daresay you'd prefer to stay dry too now. Hence, you're invited to stay," the brunet told him when they parted again._

"_You've got a point there. Yeah, sure I'll stay. But I'll have to go first thing in the morning… you know, because of dad," Katsuya excused himself as he kicked off his shoes._

"_It figures. But right now, I'm just glad that you're here," Seto replied as he lay down._

"_So am I. And I'm glad that you finally believe me," the other teen whispered as he was gently pulled into an embrace._

_Seto merely hummed in agreement and kissed his boyfriend's forehead. Outside, the storm still hadn't passed, but now the sound of rain beating against the window sounded different from before. It could very well be described as pleasant. _

_(end flashback)_ (3)

That had happened when they had only been together for two months until then, yet that had already been enough time for Seto to get encountered with his jealous side. Thinking back, he wished he would have just stood there a little longer – maybe then he would have realized that there hadn't been anything like a flirt or something going on. But an intense feeling had driven him to leave the scene too early; an impulsive reaction with consequences for which only he had been to blame.

Seto was distracted from his musings when Ryou shifted next to him, rolling onto his back and still not letting go of the hand he was clutching.

"Why yes, Kura… I'd love to be yours…" he murmured dreamily.

"Sounds like someone's having a pleasant dream," Katsuya smiled.

"I wonder about that," Seto all but mumbled.

The blond looked up to find that the other had an expression on his face which he couldn't quite define: it looked like a cross between doubtfulness, pity and thoughtfulness. "You don't think Bakura would marry him?"

"That's not quite it… I'm just wondering about the 'pleasant' part."

Seeing where this was headed to, Katsuya followed Seto's gaze and watched Ryou, whose smile had faded a bit. "Bakura does love him, without a doubt."

"And how about treating him like that as well?" Seto asked quietly.

There was a very long pause in which Katsuya fidgeted as if he were trying to get even more comfortable although it was already sufficient enough. It actually deemed any answer unnecessary, but finally he spoke anyhow:

"He's just… difficult at times. I mean," he quickly said when the body beneath him shook with a brief chuckle, "**You're** difficult too every now and then, and so am I, but Bakura… his tendencies are just different than yours or mine."

"That's pretty much the same as I've been thinking too. And you can't really compare it to the other psycho; unless I'm very mistaken, Malik is more similar to Marik, so that would make handling possible excesses and roughness somewhat easier. Ryou, however…" Seto shook his head.

"Hey, things have improved between them; I mean, Ryou doesn't have to worry that he'll end up in hospital every time Bakura inflicts serious pain on himself, for example." Both of them shortly thought about Battle City when Katsuya said that before continuing: "You know, Seto, perhaps you should invite him to a drink some evening and talk it over with him. I know you like him the most out of us all, and –"

"That's what you do when you like somebody, I know," Seto finished and started to pet the other's hair. Katsuya purred happily at this, which in turn made the brunet smile. After that, nothing was said for quite some time as they just lay there, listening to the sounds of nature while Ryou still treated Seto's hand like a prized treasure.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

After an hour – like Katsuya had predicted – two loud, excited voices signaled the arrival of Noa and Mokuba. Both were clutching a bottle of Coke, and Noa was also carrying a sheet of paper and a pen. From the very moment on that they paused for one split second to greet their older brother before practically attacking Katsuya, Seto knew that they would be a handful later on. He would hate to have to participate in a war against them and be on the enemy's side…

"Jou, it's time!"

"You gotta look!"

"We need a strategy –"

"We've got a map!"

"– ammunition –"

"Who's to go first as a sacrifice for the team?"

"– a fortress and demands –"

"Whoa, hold it guys, not so fast! What's what with whom where?" Katsuya asked with a laugh, trying to calm the two teens down.

The sudden disruption of the peaceful atmosphere caused Ryou to wake up. Blinking and muttering incoherent things in his sleep-dazed state, he noticed that he was holding something close to him. Looking down, he saw a human hand – and screamed bloody murder before rolling right off his chair.

The commotion silenced right away.

"What the…?"

"Ryou?"

"Now, **that** was a scream."

Dazedly rubbing his head a bit, Ryou got to his knees again, peered over his chair and found himself looking straight at the surprised and mildly concerned face of Seto, whose hand had only retreated a little bit from where it had been held captive before. Realization struck the Briton like a lightning bolt, and his face flushed as if he were suddenly suffering from a nasty fever.

"Blimey, I must have been doing it **again**!" He clasped his hands like a doomed man begging for mercy. It was groveling at its very best. "I'm so, so sorry, Kaiba! It won't happen again! I –"

"You will calm down right **now**," Seto interrupted, "Honestly… acting as if I'm Caesar who's about to show you thumbs down in the damn Coliseum…"

"I'm so sorry!" Ryou squeaked anyhow.

"My hand is completely fine – no imprints, no nail marks, nothing, so the apology is entirely unnecessary," Seto told him.

Ryou stood up, still looking guilty. "Jou, I… I…"

"Hey, I'm the last one you'd have to apologize to. I told him it's okay, buddy, don't sweat it," Katsuya tried to appease him. Ryou on an apology spree was just as hard to stop as Anzu giving them a taste of her views on friendship in all the colorful words she knew…

"No need to be so afraid, Ryou; if Nii-sama wanted to kill you, he would have done so already!" Mokuba added.

"Mokie, why don't you and Noa discuss these war plans of yours…?" Seto asked quickly when Ryou opened his mouth, most probably to plead for his life despite a habit he couldn't help.

"Oh yeah! Right then, Jou, here's the situation…!"

The two younger Kaibas made a dead set at Katsuya again, who was yet again forced to try and make out what they were trying to tell him since they were speaking at once, but by far not using the same words. While the blond tried in vain to calm them down, Seto fully turned his attention to Ryou, who still had a clearly abashed look on his face.

"Ryou, sit down, take a deep breath or two, and **don't** apologize to me," he instructed him.

The albino obeyed and breathed deeply twice, closing his eyes for good measure too. When he reopened his brown eyes and looked a great deal calmer, Seto nodded once and said matter-of-factly:

"You'll have to forgive Mokuba for comments like the one you just heard. Those things tend to happen when he's on a sugar-high."

"What makes you say that?" Ryou asked.

"**Please**," the CEO snorted, "There are certain things I can tell quite easily by now. I predict that Mokuba has already drunk at least three bottles of Coke so far." (4)

"Oh. Well, I guess one can only hope that he maintains that energy until the war is over – he'll probably be needing it against the others."

"If anyone of them ends up anywhere but on this beach, I swear I'll kill the culprits with my own hands. And I will **not** pay for a decent burial."

"Ah, you needn't worry about that, Kaiba; as far as I know, Yami will make triple sure that they will have no access to their Sennen items. That doesn't exactly eliminate the possibility that people might still get buried alive, but –" Realizing what he had just said, Ryou cast a glance at Seto, and the early-stage-menacing-look made him cough slightly before quickly changing the subject:

"So, did you sleep well?"

Seto got that "nice try" expression on his face before answering flatly: "Quite. Could the same be said for you?"

"Well –"

Ryou's response was cut short when an infuriated bellow rang across the grounds, one that certainly chased a few birds away, not to mention the people who happened to be close by just then. With any luck, some heads would roll and blood would get spilled.

"PHARAOH! GIVE ME BACK MY RING **NOW**, OR I'LL RIP YOU TO FUCKING PIECES!"

"Oh no…" Ryou whimpered as they held their breaths, waiting for the storm to come.

* * *

I hope you liked this. Admittedly, the flow might not be so good in some places, but I did have minor troubles here and there -.-;; Anyway, I'll try to get the next chapter written as soon as possible, but now I really need to study for the couple of tests I'm going to take, so I can make no promises to meet my pre-made deadline! I'll try, though - big promise!

(1) I dunno, I just like imagining them being motorcycle fans. And Harleys really are cool :D

(2) What happened after that is pretty much what comes to my mind when I hear "Come To Me" by Vangelis. Music's the best inspiration there is... :)

(3) Definitely not as good as the last flashback, I know, but I promise I'll try to make another one like that... Um... And I know it's OOC, but I'm the last person you should discuss that with XD

(4) You know, that reminds me of something... I don't know how the Coke advertisements are where you live, but here, there's one on TV that says "Welcome to the Coke side of life". My bro once claimed that could be considered ambiguous, and ever since he said that, I haven't been able to look at that commercial the same way again! _-lol-_

Please review; it usually makes my day! See you next time!


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